Farewell Butterfli
by Ryoken
Summary: The gang goes to the real world to help out some weird high school girls with a developing problem, but what will happen first, mayhem or madness? NO yaoi, no real pairings, just good old fun with some drama! Update: Party time!
1. Class Schedules

It has come to my attention that perhaps it is confusing who has what class. So without further ado, I give you the main characters' class schedules!!

Yusuke-

1- English

2- math

3- history

4-gym

5-Lunch

6- art

7. Science (chem)

Hiei-

1- math

2-computers

3- English

4- history

5- lunch

6- science (chem)

7- gym

Kurama-

1- Government

2- computers

3- drama

4- gym

5-lunch

6- English

7- science (chem)

Kuwabara-

1-gym

2-English

3- history

4- math

5-lunch

6- Fire fighting class!

7- science (chem)

VT-

1- gym

2- band

3- history

4-English

5-lunch

6- art

7- Science (chem)

Mizu-

1- government

2- computers

3- math

4- English

5-lunch

6- science (bio)

7- gym


	2. The New Mission!

Yes I know what you're thinking: She's starting ANOTHER fic she'll never finish. I am terribly sorry for not finishing the stories I've written, I've been getting side-tracked with the many drawings I've been doing lately. Gomen ne. bow I, of course, have never actually seen the summaries for every single fic out there, but I'm pretty sure this is the first of it's kind. Yes, I know the spelling is wrong, it's supposed to be. Well, here goes!

Farewell Butterfli

By Ryoken

It was another lazy afternoon in the Urameshi household. But that peaceful quiet was soon broken when-

"KUWABARA, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!!?!?" Yusuke yelled, giving him a swift punch to the stomach. Kazuma had his mug in Yusuke's face as he slept and simultaneously had been poking him repeatedly until he woke up. Now Kuwabara was doubled over on the floor.

"Ah, yes, THAT'S why we had the baka wake him," Hiei smirked. Kurama hid a smile behind his hand.

"Grrr, so why did you wake me, I was having a great dream before you guys showed up."

"Koenma has this tape for us," Kurama explained, holding out the video tape.

"A tape? I thought we were done with the whole Spirit Detective thing?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama only shrugged, put the tape in the player, and pressed the play button. Koenma's face suddenly appeared on the television screen and zoomed out to display him holding a fake torch while standing on a platform. The words "Presented to you by: Koenma" appeared on the screen. Yusuke muttered under his breath about how ridiculous the credit looked. He quickly fast-forwarded the tape, not wanting to sit through the parody credits that would give all the credit to Koenma. Finally, the demi-god appeared, sitting in his chair, a few papers on his desk.

"Hello, Reikai Tantei. I suppose you're all wondering why I'm contacting you after Yusuke got fired," his recorded self said.

"Looks like more of the usual," Yusuke said out loud.

A map appeared on the screen. "You'll report to this location tonight at 9:30 where I'll brief you more on the subject. Also, pack your bags with whatever you'll be needing for a long trip," Koenma's face appeared again. "I'll not reveal anything more about this mission until then, seeing as this message may get intercepted."

"Oh right, like anyone COULD intercept it!!" The credits began rolling and Yusuke turned it off. "Geez, must be something really important if he can't even tell us through his stupid movies."

---------------------------------------------

"Hey, Mizu!! Hello, earth to Mizu!! Are you in there??" VT yelled, trying to get her attention.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, my mind was...elsewhere."

"Heh heh, I know what you were thinking about!!"

"W-What are you talking about??" She asked.

"You were thinkin about _Hiei_, weren't ya!!" She teased as she poked her, her Jack Sparrow plushie that Mizu had made swinging at her side. She wore a green beanie, green arm socks, green pants, a green shirt, and faded-forest green tennis. Her eyes were green as well, her skin was pale from not being in the sunlight much and she had short black hair and had put in green streaks.

"I was not!!" Mizu argued. She had long red hair in a ponytail, and wore a tank top with a black dragon sweater over it, jeans, and a pair of old tennis shoes. She had grown out her nails and sharpened them to points, like a demon's claws. The only thing strange about her was her eyes; they were blue, green and gray all mixed into one so that if anyone tried to guess their color, more than likely it would be different from the guess of another person. Out of the two of them, Mizu was the more sane one, and the one that stuck out less in a crowd.

"You were too! You had that dreamy look in your eyes!" VT retorted.

"Oh like you don't have that same look when you think about Yusuke!!" Mizu said, grinning.

"No I don't, I don't drool all over myself."

"I do NOT drool, you crazy person!"

"Knock it off, you two, we can't concentrate on the game with you yelling at each other; if you wanna bicker, go do it over there where it's noisier," Chris said, another of their crazy friends. He had short black hair and dimples, and wore a shirt that said "My Drinking Club has a Skydiving Problem". He was a D and D addict, as were the friends he played with, but they also played Magic and were quite experienced in both games.

The bell ending lunch sounded however, and the two kept arguing all the way to their next classes.

------------------------------------------

It was 9:25 PM as Yusuke ran through the forest on the designated path like a demon running away from a spirit dragon. He had dozed off while watching TV as he waited for the time to go by, and he was running late. As usual. Fortunately for him, he had already packed his duffle bag before he dozed off. It was about another mile before he got to the spot, so he gave himself a boost of Spirit energy in order to make it just in time at 9:29:49 PM.

"And here I didn't think you'd make it, Urameshi," Kuwabara said. He had three duffle bags on the ground. Kurama only had one, and, of course, Hiei had nothing but the clothes on his back and his katana.

"Good, you're all here," Koenma said suddenly from the shadows. Botan was there as well, oar in hand, wearing a jacket, t-shirt and jeans, an over-stuffed bag in her hand, which told Yusuke that she too was most likely coming on the journey. "I'm sure you're very curious to know what this is all about." They nodded. "We've picked up some very strange power fluctuations from another dimension. Normally we wouldn't interfere, but these fluctuations aren't natural, and shouldn't even be there at all. It's bothered my father so much he's agreed to temporarily reinstate you as Spirit Detectives. Your job is to go through this portal," he said, pointing to the large oak door not ten meters behind him," infiltrate a high school and find two females, young girls really, so I suggest you find some different clothes for Hiei; he'll stick out like a sore thumb in there," Koenma said carefully, noticing a slight glare from the fire demon. "These two must be found as soon as possible, before this other unseen force can get to them first."

"And what exactly is this 'force'?" Kurama asked.

"I'm afraid we don't know yet. This was all very rushed. All we know is that every once in a while, another flucuation, even bigger than the other two, would pop up every so often. We're pretty sure it's after the two girls. For now, we just need to get them back to Genkai's temple. Hopefully by then, we'll have sorted enough of this out to figure out what to do about all this."

"The girls' names are unknown to us at this time, so you'll just have to watch out for anything unusual. Botan will lead you to where you'll sleep tonight, and will also be your go-between; if you find anything, inform her and she'll come back to the Spirit world and inform us. Botan will brief you about the rest of the mission later," he said. "Be careful, all of you."

"Right," Yusuke nodded, and he opened the door. Behind it was an incredibly bright light, so bright, the four were blinded, and didn't notice Koenma disappear back to the Spirit World.

"Well boys, this mission isn't going to be solved if you don't hop into the portal you know!" Botan said, urging them on.

"Do all portals have this kind of bright light, Botan?!" Yusuke yelled, trying to shield his eyes.

"No, just international gateways to other dimensions. Now go!" She said, and she whacked Yusuke's head with her oar as he fell in. He landed quickly on the ground, head first. He found himself in a small park with a playground in the middle of a sand pit, two basketball and tennis courts, and sparsely spread throughout the half a block of a Recreation center.

Another thud sounded behind him, and he looked to see Kuwabara land face first into the grass, Hiei and Kurama soon after, only they landed on their feet. A minute afterwards, Botan hopped into view and the bright light disappeared as the door closed, leaving them in the alien world of San Diego, California.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grimwah! Not too shabby, not too shabby at all. Okie dokie, now, I'ma go an write chapter 2, ok? Buh bye!


	3. The Arrival

Second chapter, yay for me! I no own, you no sue...Cept for Mizu...And VT owns herself, of course.

**blah **-typed

_blah _-telepathy

'blah' -thought

Farewell Butterfli

By Ryoken

"Well, I think that landing could have been better," Yusuke said, dusting himself off.

"Follow me, I'll explain on the way to the motel," Botan said.

"Please tell me we aren't living in a motel for the entire trip!" Yusuke complained.

"Oh goodness, no! It's just for tonight. For the rest of the mission, you'll be foreign exchange students, living with a family somewhere around here. But before we meet up with them, we're going to have to get something for Hiei, he'll stick out too much," she said as she walked backwards to face them. She saw Hiei's glare and gave him a stern look. "Don't give me that look, Hiei, you'll blow our cover if you go to school dressed like that. And I DON'T want to hear you complain when I tell you that you can't bring your katana to school either!"

Hiei growled, and then looked away with a "Hn."

The five walked seven more blocks until the reached the front of the motel. It was located on a busy street with car dealers all around. The place didn't look like it was too well kept either, not to mention the riff raff hanging around.

"Are you sure this is the right place, Botan? Looks real crappy to me," Kuwabara said.

"I know, but this city is packed with people, and this was the only place close enough to the family's house and the nearest clothing store. And it's only for one night, I'm sure you'll hardly notice it's shabbiness," she said in Japanese, so that the people around them couldn't understand.

They walked up a flight of stairs to their room, room 8B, and took in their surroundings. It wasn't as bad looking as they thought at all. It was well-kept, although not as richly decorated as a three star hotel might be, but it wasn't bad. They put their things down and listened as Botan gave them their last piece of information:

"Whatever you do, don't use your real names, even around each other, except when you're alone. When we signed you up for the high school, we gave them these fake names. Yusuke, you're Shinzui Onmistu, Kuwabara, Chijin Karuson, Kurama is Koujou Kakuhan, and Hiei is Hinote Reibai," she told them as she gave them their schedules accordingly.

"Ok, so I'm named Spirit Detective, Kuwabara's Idiot Boy, Kurama's Plant Whip, and Hiei is Fire Medium??? Don't you think it just KIND of makes us stand out, even just a little bit??" Yusuke said as he looked at the paper.

"To someone who knows Japanese, yes, it would; but you're the only exchange students that go to that school, so it doesn't make any difference. We don't care if you fail all of your classes, just don't start making a name for yourself by beating up every punk who you come across, got it? We're undercover, remember that," she finished.

"Hey, what about you, Botan? Aren't you going to school too?" Kuwabara asked.

"No, if I'm going to be the go-between, I'd miss out on too many classes. It's easier if I just watch invisibly from my oar in the sky," she said all too happily.

-------------------------------------------

"Hey, go to bed, it's past eleven," Mizu's mother said as she opened the door to her room.

"All right, Mom, just a second," Mizu said. When her mother closed the door again, she quickly restored the text messenger. **Gotta go to bed now, VT. Cya tomorrow.** she typed.

**Aww, ok. Cya then.**

Mizu signed off and shut down her computer, like she did every night, and hopped into bed. Her thoughts drifted from future homework, to the boring school day routine she went through everyday except on weekends, and finally to Yu Yu Hakusho, until she drifted off into sleep.

Mizu woke up that morning feeling far more energetic than usual; she wasn't at all sleepy or grumpy when her mother came in to wake her up. 'This is weird...This only happens when I know I'm going on something like a field trip...I don't remember any field trips happening today...Huh, odd.'

After she ate breakfast, fixed herself up, and the van left the house for the high school, she wondered what in the world was going on today that made her feel like this.

--------------------------------------------

"I will NOT be seen dressed like some army action figure!!" Hiei argued. The nearest clothing store that Botan had spoken of last night was a Salvation Army shop.

"They have more than just camouflage clothes, you know!" Botan said, not as excited as she would be if they had gone to the mall, but it was too far and school started in forty-five minutes.

Hiei gave the usual grunt and somehow allowed himself to be dragged into the store by Botan. Kurama was about to follow when he noticed Yusuke and Kuwabara not making a move to go inside themselves.

"Coming?"

"You couldn't get me into a clothing store with Botan if you paid me," Yusuke said, knowing from past experience what it was like to be dragged along to the mall with Keiko AND Botan.

"I don't do shopping," was Kuwabara's only reply. Kurama shrugged, leaving it at that, and followed the other two inside.

"Even if it isn't the mall, Botan sure doesn't know when to quit," he commented quietly to himself as he watched her quickly go through the racks of clothes in the small shop. 'And to think she's under a time restraint.'

"Well, it isn't the biggest selection to choose from, but this will have to do for now," Botan said as she put the clothes on the counter, not having time for Hiei to try them on. She paid for them and hurried out the door, and, with the help of Kurama's insistent urgings, got Hiei into sneakers, black pants and a teal sweater-type shirt. However, he would absolutely not allow them to change his hair style.

Hiei did remember that he wasn't allowed to take the katana to high school, but he still gave up a decent fight over it. By the time everyone else was ready to go, they had twenty minutes before the first bell rang.

"Botan, how far exactly IS the school from here anyway?" Yusuke said.

"Erm, that's the thing; it's about four miles," she said.

"WHAT!?!? Four miles?!!? Why didn't you tell us?!?!"

"Because I had Koenma put a portal in the closet of our room that will take us to a secluded spot on the high school grounds, that's why!!" Botan said sharply.

"Oh, well why didn't you say so?" Yusuke said.

"Because you never asked!" She replied, exasperated. "Just remember that after school, your exchange student family will pick you up, and the portal won't be there; there's a picture of them in the motel when we get there."

When they got there, Botan looked through her duffle bag and took out a small photograph. They were about their mid-forties, and lived in a house.

"They're the Parkers, and they have no children of their own, but have a lot of space in their house for guests. And please, Yusuke, do try to be polite to them, all right, they're very nice people," she said.

"Yeah, sure, I'll be as innocent as a lamb," Yusuke said, brushing her off.

Botan looked at her watch. "Time to go, boys; and try not to do anything that will draw attention to yourselves, ok?!" She yelled after them as one by one, they went through the portal. On the other side, they ended up near the welding building, and mysteriously, they all had backpacks in front of them, one in red, one in green, one in blue and one in black. They picked up their corresponding backpacks and looked at their schedules again. They began walking but suddenly stopped as Kurama broke off from the rest of them.

"Looks like my first class is right here. How...convenient," he said.

"Right. We'll meet up here for lunch, ok?" Yusuke said.

"Sounds like a plan." And so the others walked on.

Soon, Kuwabara left for the gym, Hiei for the two-hundred building, or math hall, leaving Yusuke to walk to the English hall.

-------------------------------------------

The two-minute bell rang just as a long red haired boy walked into the classroom. He slowed his pace as he received stares and glances from the students of the Advanced Placement Government class. He walked up to the older man, the teacher, Mr. Robinson, who wore rainbow suspenders and handed him his schedule.

"Ah so you're the exchange student, Mr. uh...?"

"Koujou Kakuhan."

"Welcome to my AP Government class. Go ahead and sit where ever you'd like, and just as fair warning, if I insult you, don't take it personally, I do it to everyone eventually," he said with a smile.

"Oh, yes," said one of the students.

The boy named Koujou walked to an empty desk next to Mizu, and asked in perfect English "May I sit here?"

Mizu turned around, almost startled by his appearance, and replied "Yeah, sure."

"Thank you," he said with a smile.

'That guy...he looks so...familiar...Uh oh, deija vu, deija vu!!'

"Uh, is there some sort of reason everyone's staring at me?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh! Don't mind them, they're not used to a guy having long red hair, I guess. My name's Mizu, or at least that's what everyone else calls me anyway."

"Shu, er, Koujou, My name's Koujou," Kurama said. 'I feel ridiculous saying my name is plant.'

That's it for now! Hope you likey!!


	4. The First Day of School

EDIT: I have reformed the Japanese that Kuwabara is saying. The intent is still "OW!! If you weren't a girl, I'd hit you!!" But now I think it means "OW!!! You're a girl, therefore I haven't hit you yet!!"

**blah** -typed

_blah_ -telepathy

'blah' -thought

(blah) -translation

Farewell Butterfli

By Ryoken

Kuwabara's first day at gym class was not what he had been expecting. There was a girl in his class, VT was her name, who took every chance she got to torture him in some way.

"ITTAI!!!! Anata wa annanoto desk kara, mada utimasen!!!" Kuwabara yelled at VT as she bounced the ball off of his head.

"Awww, did that hurt?" She teased evilly, not knowing very much Japanese, but enough to know he was getting annoyed. She quickly dodged around him with the ball, weaving in and around the other players, and then scored two points. She bounced the ball back and forth a little and then passed to another teammate. As she jogged past, she stuck her tongue out at him. He was getting more furious by the minute. 'Hmm, this guy seems really familiar to me...but I can't place my finger on where I've seen him before,' VT thought as she hurried to the person who'd stolen the ball from her team.

VT's thoughts moved back to the game once she'd gotten the ball back, and she forgot about how familiar he seemed until the teacher blew the whistle, signaling that it was time to "hit the showers," as their teacher referred to it as.

When Kuwabara got into the locker room, he could tell the other boys were making fun of him, although he hadn't the slightest idea as to what they were saying. But he soon made it very clear that he should not be messed with by making an example of the nearest boy who was laughing.

--------------------------------------

"This is so stupid, they're all baka ningens, I swear," Hiei muttered to himself as he left the classroom. Botan had enrolled him in a basic math class when Hiei knew more math than Botan ever would. Of course, Botan had no way of knowing this.

"Baka ningens..." He kept muttering under his breath as he made his way to the next class, which was only four doors down. He went inside and found himself in a room full of computers. "Shimatta...You've gotta be kidding me...I don't know how to work these baka machines..." Hiei said in Japanese.

"Oh, you must be one of the exchange students," said a woman from behind. Hiei turned around to see a rather short adult woman with ridiculously long blonde hair and glasses. "I'm Mrs. Heison, the teacher here," she said, trying to indicate in charade-like symbols who she was.

"He can speak English quite well, I assure you," said a familiar voice. Hiei turned to see Kurama and a girl beside him who he could've easily mistaken for Kurama, had he seen her from the back.

"Oh, good. I was afraid I'd have to be doing sign language for the rest of the year," she laughed. She scooped up a clipboard from her desk and studied it a while.

"Let's see, you two are, I'm infamous for butchering names, Kojoe and and Highnote?"

"That's Koujou and Hinote," Kurama corrected.

"Ok; it'll take me a lot longer to learn those names, so bear with me. Koujou, you can take the computer in left third row seat, far left, and Hinote, you can sit one down and to the right from Mizu here. If you need to change seats because you can't see very well, don't hesitate to ask me to move you," she said with a smile, and left the three alone.

"Coming here to America must be a tough change, huh?" Mizu said, trying to rid them of the silence.

"For us, no. The work is a lot easier than it ever was back in Japan, although I imagine Shinzui and Chijin aren't having it quite as easy as we are," Kurama commented. Hiei stiffled a snort at the name Chijin.

"How so?"

"Well, they weren't exactly the brightest of students at school. I'm sure they won't be trying to become top students here, if they didn't even really try back in Japan," he remarked.

"Ah, I see." At that time, the two minute bell rang. "I'll show Hinote where he sits," Mizu said, waving him towards the back. "This," Mizu said, placing a hand on the monitor "is your computer." Then she went to the computer on the far right behind Hiei, grabbing a manual on how to use Dreamweaver, and sat down, opening the book to a certain page.

_Kurama, you know to work these "computers", right?_ Hiei asked.

_Hang on, let me see...Yes, there's a switch in the back of the monitor, and a button you have to press on the modem, below the desk._ Kurama replied, knowing Hiei had never used a computer in his life. Hiei did as he had said, and soon the black screen had strange words on it and a neon yellow and green symbol on it. 'Well, that was easy enough,' he thought.

"Mizu, would you get our new students their usernames and see what they know?" Mrs. Heison asked from her own computer; students were bombarding her with various questions.

"Sure thing, Mrs. H.," she replied. She went to Hiei first, and then to Kurama, and took them to the back computer. She sat in the chair and used a few mouse clicks, typed a few words, then got up again, motioning for Hiei to sit down. "Choose a password, type it in, and make sure you don't forget what it is!" She said. He quickly thought of one, and started typing. He looked up at the screen and saw that the letters had been replaced with s. He erased it and tried typing it again. Mizu leaned over to Kurama. "Has he ever used a computer?"

"No, this is his first time," he replied.

"I heard that." Kurama shrugged.

"Don't worry, Hinote, your password's on there; it's just disguising it so that other people around you won't know what it is if they're looking over your shoulder." She leaned over Hiei's shoulder, and clicked the mouse again. "Type it again, that way you know if you've spelt it right." He did. "Ok, Hinote, your username is 0235, so use that password you made to get into it, ok?"

"Fine," he said, and he went back to his seat.

The rest of the period went smoothly, Mizu "taught" Hiei how to get into the basic typing program, where he could learn to type on the keyboard. He was a fast learner though, and was soon typing at a speed even Mizu couldn't go. But the bell for second period's end soon rang, and it was time to head for third period.

"Hey Koujou, you guys wanna hang out with my friends and I at lunch? I'm sure you don't have anywhere else to go, seeing as it's your first day and all," Mizu asked as they went out the door.

"What do you think?" Kurama asked of Hiei.

"Hn, I really don't care."

"I'll consult with Shinzui and Chijin, but I'm sure they'll agree."

"Great! I'll meet you guys by the two hundred's front door, over there," she said, pointing to the doors that lead to the quad. Kurama nodded, and Mizu took off to her next class.

"Why are you making friends with such stupid humans anyway, Kurama?" Hiei said, making sure no one else could eavesdrop by speaking in Japanese.

"Wasn't it our mission to find the girls whom we're supposed to protect by making friends?" Kurama said.

"He said infiltrate, not make friends," Hiei quoted.

"And what better way to infiltrate than to become friends with a possible enemy?" He said as he split from Hiei to cross the faculty parking lot to the little theatre and Drama class.

-------------------------------------------

"Oh no...not her again!!" Kuwabara complained to Urameshi as he spotted the familiar green streaked hair.

"You seen her before?" Yusuke asked.

"Yeah. She's in gym class; she kept bouncing the ball off of my head!!" He growled. Yusuke couldn't keep himself from laughing out loud and drawing attention to themselves.

"She bounced a ball off of your head?!!?" He repeated, still laughing. Kuwabara grabbed him by the collar.

"It's not funny, Urameshi!!" He said, danger growing in his tone.

"Break it up, you two!!" The teacher said from inside the classroom.

"Well well, if it isn't Chijin-boy!!" VT said as she walked up to the two. Yusuke and Kuwabara were a little unnerved that she seemed to know Japanese.

"Onmitsu Shinzui desu. Dochirasama?(My name is. Who are you?)" Yusuke said.

"Uh...Hello to you, too," she said, not exactly sure what he had just said.

Yusuke grinned. Oh this was going to be too easy. "Konichiwa Hello to you too."

VT laughed. "Oh, I'm VT. So you're, uhm...Shinzui?"

"Hai."

"Class, if you'll sit down, we'll begin today's lesson," the teacher, Mr. Le Mire, the most boring teacher in the entire school. With his monotone voice, he put Yusuke, Kuwabara, and VT into a deep sleep. When they awoke, they had five minutes to get to their next classes.

"Hey, Shinzui, meet me over by the gate during lunch," VT shouted as they ran opposite ways, pointing at the large fence behind her. "We can hang out at my spot."

"O.K.!"

"Bring your friends!"

----------------------------------------------

For the next period, no one saw each other unless they were in the hall. Then the final bell rang signaling lunchtime.

The four boys hurried to their designated meeting spot behind the welding shop that they had agreed on before.

"Find anything yet?" Yusuke said.

"Well, not really; but we did meet someone who wanted to meet us all at lunch," Kurama said.

"So did we."

"What now?" Kuwabara asked.

"We'll split up; Kuwabara and Kurama, go with our friend, and Hiei and I with yours, that way someone can translate. Meet at the message board over by the front of the school after school's out," Yusuke said. The four split up and met with their friends. They, Mizu and VT included, were all very much surprised when they met up together at the exact same place: the big tree at the end of the grass in between the halls.

Ok, that's all for now! Kinda boring I guess, but that's ok, it'll get better!


	5. The Craziness of Lunch Time

Next chapter anyone??

**blah **-typed

_blah _-telepathy

'blah' -thought

(blah) -translation

Farewell Butterfli

By Ryoken

"Well, whadya know!" VT commented, carrying two instrument cases.

"Kinda convenient," Mizu said. She took the larger case from VT and opened it. She gently lifted a violin out and started to fine tune it. VT took out a flute, making sure that everything was working.

Kuwabara's curiosity struck. "What are they doing?" Kurama asked them the question.

"What's it look like? We're practicing," VT said. She blew into the mouth piece, making sure it was making the right notes.

"Ok guys, what'll it be?" Mizu asked her friends.

"Let's let the newbs choose today," Chris said.

"Sounds good; choose a song, and we'll play it," Mizu said as she got comfortable in a niche in the tree.

"Ask em if they know 'Tsuka-no-ma no Sansetto'," Yusuke said to Kurama. He did.

"No, I don't think we do..." Mizu replied. "I know, we'll play Butterfly. How's that sound?"

"Fine by me! You know I love that one!" VT grinned. The boys had no idea as to what in the world they were talking about, so they sat down to listen.

It was a really fast and upbeat tune, and they played it well, considering the beat was incredibly fast and they looked at no music sheets. Mizu even sung and jumped around a little bit as she played. When the song was finished, VT put her flute away while Mizu, entranced in her own music, started to play slowly, and started humming at the same time.

"You two are really good!" Kurama complemented.

"Thanks!" VT said, smiling joyfully. She reached into her backpack and took out her lunch: a tuna-fish sandwich and Wild Cherry Caprisun, and began munching down. All of a sudden, Mizu started to break into tune.

'Cause a thousand words  
Called out through the ages  
They'll fly to you  
Even though we can't see  
I know they're reaching you  
Suspended on silver wings

Oh a thousand words  
One thousand embraces  
Will cradle you  
Making all of your weary days seem far away  
They'll hold you forever...

Oh a thousand words  
Have never been spoken  
They'll fly to you  
They'll carry you home and back into my arms  
Suspended on silver wings

And a thousand words  
Called out through the ages  
They'll cradle you  
Turning all of the loving into only days  
They'll hold you forever...

VT laughed. "In a singing mood, are we??"

"Heh, maybe," Mizu said, stopping in the middle of the song. Then she looked up at the sky, her mind someplace else.

"You're daydreaming about you-know-who again!!" VT said, completely ignoring the four boys standing aside.

"HeyHeyHEY!!! Not in front of the newbs, girl!!" Mizu said, blushing as she placed the bow string underneath VT's chin.

"What's the matter, can't take a little heat?" She continued to tease.

"VT, I'm warning you..."

"Warning me?? Not to tell that you daydream about H-mppph," VT said until Mizu put a forceful hand over her mouth.

"I don't want another- awww, good goddess, VT!!!" She said, retracting her hand. It was wet. "Geez, you LICKED my hand?!!?!? Someone got disinfectant??" She said, holding her wrist as she stuck out her tongue in disgust.

"It's not like I have rabies or anything!!"

"Are you sure about that?" Mizu joked.

"Well, don't think I do," VT joked back.

"Better keep our distance then, huh!?"

"Yeah, you might get...COOTIES!!!!!" VT shouted, jumping towards Kuwabara with an eccentric grin on her face, her fingers hunched like claws. He jumped back a foot or two.

"What the hell are they talking about!?" Kuwabara said. Kurama could hardly keep from losing his cool-headedness as he hid his smile behind both hands. Hiei let out a short snort and suppressed a small smile. He looked away.

"What the heck is so funny, Kur-uh, Koujou??" Yusuke insisted.

"She said...that you shouldn't get too close...or you...might get...cooties," He replied, trying not to laugh.

"I don't see what's so funny..." Kuwabara said.

"You had to hear the whole conversation, baka," Hiei replied, the smile gone.

"Not my fault I don't understand a word they're saying!"

"Sure it is; you should've paid more attention in school!" Yusuke replied, getting the joke and laughing along with Kurama.

"Oh yeah, well I don't see you speakin' English either, Onmistu!!" Kurabara tried to retort.

It was to no avail, as usual. "Cause I don't need to know English! I can just have Koujou or Hinote translate for me." Hiei gave a grunt. "Excuse me, I can just have Kurama translate for me," he rephrased.

"Shall we play some more?" Mizu asked VT.

"I'm eating here, lady!!" She yelled. Then took another bite of her sandwich. Mizu stood up and shrugged when her stomach growled.

"Heheh..." She laughed weakly as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Hungry?" Kurama asked.

"Sure, she is; but she can't eat cause she's starving herself to death," VT teased.

"WHAT?!!?!?!? ARE YOU INSINUATING THAT I AM FAT!?!?!?!?!?" Mizu yelled. Just then her stomach growled again, this time louder. She laughed weakly again.

"Here," VT said, throwing a half of a half of a half of what was left of her sandwich.

"Thanks."

Now that VT was finished with her lunch, a mischievous grin spread on her face. The Reikai Tantei, now that no one was talking, had decided to see just what in the world had been packed for their lunch. While Yusuke was digging through the paper sack, VT crept up until she was a foot away from his feet. Then she suddenly jumped up and landed right in front of him, her face mere centimeters away from his, and yelled. "Why do rubber ducks want to take over the world?!?!?" Yusuke fell over from surprise.

"Wh-What??" Kurama said, looking up from his bag.

"Why do rubber ducks wanna take over the world??" She asked, this time to Kurama. He repeated the question slowly in Japanese back to Yusuke, the smile never retreating from his face. Yusuke didn't bother to answer such a weird question that didn't even make sense. Hiei wasn't smiling.

'Now this is just pure idiocy...' He thought. He took one look at the contents of his back and gave a sour face; peanut butter and jelly, definitely not something he was used to, and he certainly wasn't about TO get used to it. He saw the baka in his sights and threw the carefully aimed bag at Kuwabara. As Botan would say, Bingo. It hit him squarely in the jaw and, in a blinded rage, he threw the bag in Hiei's direction; it missed him completely. Hiei rolled his eyes and, somehow recalling that they were undercover, climbed into the lowest branch of the tree so he could ignore anything that happened on the ground.

Mizu, laughing slightly at VT's strange inquires, picked up a small stray stick from the tree. She started to idly twirl it, having been on the flag team one year, when she tried to do a toss and it hit the branch of the tree, making a loud noise.

"Oh SHIT, EVERYONE RUN!!!!!!" Mizu yelled, and everyone, except for the detectives, ran right away. Suddenly, the boys heard squawking coming from the tree. Hiei was the first to feel it's wrath. He jumped down from the tree and started to jog away backwards from the tree, trying to find his attacker.

"What is it, Hiei??" Kurama asked, his smile disappearing.

"A bird! It just tried to attack me!"

"Whoa whoa whoa. The great black dragon master is running from a bird??" Yusuke said.

Hiei growled. "It just caught me off guard, that's all." Suddenly Kuwabara yelled out "OW!!!!" On the ground was a recently dead bird. Something black swooped down over their heads, making them duck. There was a final squawk, and then no more.

"Is it over yet?" Mizu yelled from the other side of the grass.

"I don't know; what signifies that it's over?" Kurama yelled back.

"Silence more or less."

"Then yeah, I think it's over." The group cautiously walked back, watching the treetops.

"Just what was that exactly?" Kuwabara said in Japanese, rubbing his head.

"Carnivorous bird; don't ask, he was here before we were," Chris said before Kurama had a chance to ask.

"I'm not so sure I wanna hang out around a carnivorous bird..." Kuwabara said after Kurama had translated.

"What were you thinking, Mizu?!?!" VT shouted. Mizu cringed. "You know the rules, go," VT said, pointing behind Mizu.

"Can I at least take my violin?" She said hopefully. VT shook her head. She sighed and walked to the place where the school building and the fence met, and sat in the corner.

"Just so you know, anyone who disturbs the bird has to sit in the corner for the rest of lunch," VT explained.

--------------------------------------------------------------

For those who don't know, Tsuka-no-ma no Sansetto is (apparently) a song for/by Yusuke on some soundtrack that I don't have. I got it off of No idea what that translates into, they didn't tell me. Butterfly is the song from DDR, by Smile, the extremely fast version, just so you know. wishes she had the song so she could play it over and over and make the Reikai go crazy XD. Also, the song Mizu sings is from 1000 words, from Final Fantasy X-2 .

And what is the thing called that you use to actually play the violin? The bow?

Yes, we have a carnivorous bird at our school. More or less, I think he "eats" other birds. But we don't have that rule. '''


	6. At the End of the Day

Uhhh, yay?

**blah **-typed

_blah _-telepathy

'blah' -thought

(blah) -translation

Farewell Butterfli

By Ryoken

"Lemme get this straight: if we disrupt the cannibal bird, we get sent to the time-out corner?" Yusuke asked.

"It seems so," Kurama replied, smiling.

"Riiiiight..."

Mizu sat drawing in the nearby dirt with a twig, still in that corner.

Suddenly, the bell rang, and the Reikai headed towards their next classes.

"Hey, Mizu! I'll race you!" VT shouted at the lone student gathering her things. VT began running.

"VT, that's not fair, you got a head start!" She shouted back. Mizu didn't bother trying to play catch-up with her friend; she knew that even if SHE had gotten the head start, she wouldn't have remained in the lead for very long: VT was very agile.

"Not up for a race?" Kurama asked as Mizu walked alongside them.

"What's the point?" She sighed. "She always seems to beat me..."Mizu said, scratching her head in thought. Mizu turned a corner and waved goodbye to them.

--------------------------------------

"Well, I'd say we're off to a pretty good staaaaaaa..." Yusuke was saying before he walked into his second to last class of the day, Kurama and Hiei walking beside him. In front of them was the mischievous VT, sitting on her stool with her feet up. "Oh...great..." He muttered under his breath.

VT noticed them and bounded off of her stool and into their faces. "HI AGAIN!!!!"

"Konichiwa, VT," Yusuke said shakily, raising an arm in greeting.

"What's the matter, you're not getting sick or anything, are you?" She asked.

"Iie, iie(no, no)!!" Yusuke said, firmly shaking his head back and forth.

"Good! I want to show you some of the things I've done, come on!!" She said, and she dragged him away from Kurama and Hiei. He looked back at them for some sign of mercy, but Kurama merely smiled and Hiei smirked.

"We'll see you later, Shinzui," Kurama said as he left Yusuke's range of sight.

"Heh, have fun, Onmitsu," Hiei remarked as he too, left the art studio.

This was going to be a long period, Yusuke thought to himself.

VT sat Yusuke down on the stool next to the one she had been previously occupying and hurried over to her drawer where she undid the lock and pulled it open. She took out a few pieces of paper, and then brought them back to the table.

"This one I did a few weeks ago," VT said as she held up the first pastel piece of art. It was a picture of a gray brick wall, and green vines were growing in every nook and cranny. At the bottom were some of the bricks that had been pushed out of the wall, and where there were only a few cracks, a blue sky pierced through. Yusuke thought it was a little on the boring side, but it wasn't half bad for someone who he thought was weirder than Jin.

"This one I started yesterday, so it isn't finished yet," she stated. She held up the beginnings of an evergreen forest and shining streams. Where the chalk hadn't been used yet were light pencil drawings of butterflies floating along the banks of the streams. Something in it just seemed to catch Yusuke's eye, but he couldn't place his finger on what. Yusuke almost showed his surprise when the picture moved from where it was to where VT moved it, facing down on the table.

VT showed him a few other pastel drawings she had done before class began, but none of them interested him as much as that drawing of the streams and butterflies. Something about it just seemed familiar to him. It stayed with Yusuke throughout the class as he watched VT use her pastel to finish up the drawing.

VT noticed Yusuke's intense stare out of the corner of her eye and decided it was time to introduce him to her "master." Out of the blue, VT practically shoved a rubber duck with sunglasses on in Yusuke's face. "This is BOB! He tells me everything!! He tells me when to eat mashed potatoes, when to scare peoples, when to glomp people..."She said, a sadistic grin on her face as she continued to rattle off the infinite list of things that her lord and master told her. Yusuke fell off his stool.

Suddenly, VT grabbed Yusuke's backpack and started to rummage through it.

"HEY!!!! That's my stuff!!!!" He said in Japanese, but he didn't want to stop a psycho such as VT. He was too afraid of what she might concoct next. Not finding what she was looking for, she put the bag on the ground and jumped on Yusuke. It wasn't long before the teacher, Ms. Phillips, heard the ruckus of shouts going on from the corner of the room.

"You two! I suggest if you don't want to get sent to the principle, that you stop this rough-housing immediately," she said as she found VT sitting up triumphantly with a piece of paper in her hand and Yusuke rubbing the side of his head.

"Yes, Ms. Phillips!" VT said happily. She sat in her seat and opened up the piece of paper she had wrenched from Yusuke's pants pocket. It was his schedule. "Oooooooo, you have seventh period with me next!! Isn't that weird?!?" She said to him as he got off of the floor. She put the schedule on his half of the desk.

"Eeto, hai...(Uh, yes...)" Yusuke said slowly. When he looked back at what VT was doing, she was silently using the pastel again, as if nothing had ever happened. Yusuke was right. It was going to be a long period...

----------------------------------------

"Come on, Shinzui, let's go, let's go!!" VT said, almost shouting. Yusuke had seen VT smuggle some sort of candy into her mouth and was reluctant to find out just what the sugary stuff would tell her already-insane mind to do.

Finally, a possible savior appeared around the corner. Yusuke ran to catch up with Kuwabara, who was staring intently at his schedule, thinking that at any moment, he'd be able to interpret where he was supposed to go next.

"Gimme that," Yusuke said, snatching it from his grasp.

"Hey!!"

Yusuke started to look pale. He quickly took out his own schedule and lined them up. The typing looked the same, and so Yusuke figured that he, Kuwabara, and VT must have the exact same class. Yusuke groaned as VT stole the schedules.

"Heh heh, so, we all have the same last period, huh? Sounds like fun to me!!!" VT said. She grabbed Yusuke's hand and dragged him towards seventh period: chemistry.

When the three got there, Kuwabara lagging behind, they found Kurama already seated.

"Eeto, Koujou, naze korede desu ka?(Um, Plant, why are you here?)" Yusuke asked. "Kokimi douyou ato baka zeniza desu(Feeling like an idiot right now)." Kurama chuckled.

"Wha'd he say, wha'd he say!?!?" VT said to Kurama.

"He asked if I too, had this class, and that Chijin also has chemistry," Kurama said quickly. "And to answer that question, yes, I do."

"I don't see the shrimp anywhere, what's he got now?" Kuwabara asked, under the guise of his native language.

"Gym," Kurama responded in English.

"You guys talking about Hinote?" VT asked. Kurama nodded. "Mizu has gym this period, I wonder if he's in her class."

--------------------------------------

"Oh great, I've got her again," Hiei muttered under his breath as he noticed Mizu walking out of the girl's locker room, speaking to another ningen that was beside her.

"Rebye Highnote? Rebye Highnote!!" A woman from behind yelled. Hiei turned rolled his eyes as he started to correct her when someone else spoke out.

"That's Hinote Reibai, Mrs. Stuart. And he's right there," Mizu said.

"Oh. Well why didn't you say so?!?" The instructor said, turning her back and walking towards the track.

"Baka ningen..." Hiei muttered.

"Hello again, Hinote," Mizu said politely.

"Hn."

"'Hn...' now, where have I heard that before..." Mizu pondered out loud.

"Why are you named 'water'?" Came a question out of the blue. (Bad pun not intended.)

"Huh? Oh, VT just started calling me it one day, so it just sort of stuck," she answered as she began walking towards the track for the usual warm up. "I've never liked to use my real name anyway; I hate it," she added.

Hiei raised an eyebrow. He'd figured as much, but he'd never heard of anyone hating the name they were given. 'Hn, ningens.'

"What are you just standing around for, Hinote? You don't want to be docked points, do you?" She shouted. Hiei sighed under his breath and silently followed Mizu to the track, making it there before the teacher without using his incredible speed.

---------------------------------------

"No, no, no; that's not what you do to make it go boom in yer face!!" VT said, adding an Irish accent to her voice as she mixed in a chemical and placed the one Kurama had in his hand on the table.

"I thought that the objective was NOT to have it explode in our faces?" Kurama said.

"Where's the fun in that?!!?" VT exclaimed. She picked up some various vials and poured in the potions inside, some fast, others slower than slow. "Stand back," she said at last; they all backed up way more than VT had expected them to. VT slowly poured a drop of the last ingredient and crouched back with the rest of them. A puff of smoke came out like a mushroom cloud, and then after about a minute, a sound like a shotgun came from the vial, leaving scorch marks around the rim and a ghastly smell wafting from the inside.

"Now THAT was cool," Yusuke said, a grin on his face.

"Yes, well, let's just hope that little stunt of hers won't get us into trouble," Kurama prayed.

"Don't you mean you into trouble?" Yusuke asked.

"I suppose you could put it that way..." Kurama began to say as the teacher walked over to them.

"Miss VT, may I have a word with you?" Mr. Berrian asked as he raised a finger, indicating with it that she should follow him.

"Guess you got your wish, huh, Kurama?" Yusuke said when VT was out of earshot.

"Don't use that name around here!" Kurama whispered.

"Right, right," Yusuke said as he and the other two began the experiment over again, this time the right way.

------------------------------------------

Hiei wished that with all the blasted ningen clothing Botan had bought, she had bought him a watch. He'd never needed to know what time it was before, but this period felt like it was never going to end! He was tired of not being able to use his speed and he was sick of playing this stupid ningen game, what was it called again? Sock her?

"Hinote, heads up!!" Mizu shouted quickly as the ball came flying at him. He finally took notice, and his first reaction was to slice the ball with his katana...which he remembered was left with Botan when he reached for it. So instead he batted the ball away from himself with his arm. The ball flew high into the sky; after he hit it, there was a slight tingle in his arm. A whistle blew.

"Use of hands; ball turns over to the yellow team," the coach yelled as groans ensued. She tossed a spare ball towards a member of the yellow team, and blew the whistle.

"I don't know if you had soccer in Japan, Shorty, but we don't use our hands, and that includes arms, smart-ass!!" A boy said, not exactly happy with the fact that his team had lost possession of the ball. He was a real jerk named David, and the school "bully". He made fun of everyone, and was the leader of his own little circle of friends.

"What'd you say?!?!?!?" Hiei shouted angrily. "Come here and say that to my-ow!" The ball had come back into the atmosphere and landed straight on Hiei's head.

"Hinote! Are you all right?" Mizu asked as she came up to him.

"He's dead," he said. He was about lunge at bulky kid when Mizu grabbed his arm. "Don't touch me, baka ningen!!" He said, pulling his arm away.

"EXCUSE ME!?!?!?!?!? You did NOT just call me a stupid human, you migikai fugainai painappuru(short cowardly pinapple)!!" Mizu shouted back at him.

Hiei wasn't sure if he should fight with her or laugh at her. He'd been called mouse, half-pint, shrimp, and all sorts of other things by the baka, but he'd never been called a pineapple before... His smart-ass attitude returned as he said. "Well, I just did, onna (woman)!"

"Oh yeah?!" Mizu said. 'Good, he's focused on me. Maybe now he won't get suspended for fighting.'

"Yeah!"

"Oh yeah?!?"

"Yeah, oba-san (little girl)!!

"OBA-SAN?!!?!? OMAE O KOROSU(I will kill you), you Oompa Loompa!!!!!!!!!!"

"Oompa what?"

"Oompa loompa. They're these short little orange munchkins with green hair, they're actually quite weird."

"Oh. Are you calling me a munchkin!??"

"That's right, Oompa loompa!!"

"Oh yeah-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!!!!!" The teacher shouted. "Mizu, Hinote, fifty push ups; now!"

"WHAT?!?!" They both said at once.

"You heard me!! And no girly ones either!!!" She said. Mizu and Hiei grumbled to themselves as they both got on the ground and started doing push ups. They could both hear David's stupid laughter from the goal where he was playing as the goalkeeper, and both would have liked to punch his face in. But on the inside, Mizu was just glad that the guy didn't get suspended or anything. He was kinda cute.

"I...hate...you..." Hiei said when he got to fifteen.

"Awww, I...hate...you too," Mizu replied.

"Urusei(shut up)!" He said quickly.

"No, you...urusei!" Mizu said. "If it...weren't for...me...you'd be...on your...way to the...principle's...office...right now..." She was on twenty-five.

"What are...you talking...about?!"

"If you...had fought...that worthless...piece of...crap...you would...have gotten...suspended...on your...first day...of school." Forty-one.

"So what...do you...care?"

"Somebody...has to..." She said. Mizu gave him a smile right before she reached fifty and collapsed on the ground, panting. Hiei had hardly broken into a sweat as he sat down on the grass.

"What do you mean 'somebody has to'?" He asked plainly.

"Exactly what I said. 'Somebody has to care.' I don't ask questions like 'why should I care?' to myself. I ask 'why shouldn't I care?'" Mizu said. The final bell rang and Mizu stood up. "Great, school's out for the day. Took long enough, huh?" She joked.

"Hn," he replied. 'kaiki ningen...(weird human)' he thought to himself as they walked back to the locker rooms.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry it took me so long to update and that it's kinda slow right now, gomen ne!!


	7. School's Out! After School Activities!

On with the story!!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or VT. Just Mizu...

Farewell Butterfli

By Ryoken

"Heh heh, that's about the best insult I've heard yet, Shrimp!!" Kuwabara chuckled.

"By all means, laugh; it might just be your last, baka," Hiei threatened.

"Now now, children, let's not get all riled up," Yusuke teased.

"Hn. This is getting old fast. How hard can it be to find a couple of teenage girls who have some sort of demons coming after them?" Hiei grumbled.

"A lot harder than it first seemed, that's for sure," came a bubbly voice. They turned around to see Botan. "Have you found anything?"

"Well, we did meet these two really weird girls, but other than that, no," Yusuke reported.

"I've been trying to find traces of that signal from above and from the ground, but I haven't found any leads whatsoever. Little bugger must be incredibly good at hiding itself," Botan commented. "About these girls-"

"They need to be checked into a psychiatric ward as fast as possible is all I can say," Yusuke said.

"I see. What were their names, and what did they look like?" Botan asked.

"Why?"

"You never know, Yusuke; they might be strange, but it's possible they're the ones we're looking for," she said.

"How in the world could such idiotic fools be the ones we're supposed to be escorting to Genkai's?" Hiei asked.

"Stranger things have happened," Kurama said.

Yusuke and the others gave vivid descriptions of VT and Mizu, not to mention the events of that day as Botan jotted it down on a notepad.

"I'll get some background checks on them and see what comes up. Oh yes! If you go down these two blocks, you'll come across a park. That's where the Parkers are supposed to pick you up. I'll meet you at their house and give you your katana there, Hiei; that way they won't see it."

"Hn, whatever."

"I'll see you later!" She shouted as she flew off on her oar into the air and out of sight.

------------------------------------------

"Hey Mizu, look! It's da boys!" VT said as they were walking to VT's forest-green Durango.

Mizu glanced in her direction. "Mmhmm."

"Come on, let's go say hi!" VT said.

"We've been saying hi all day, shouldn't we be saying goodbye?" Mizu asked sleepily as she was practically dragged towards the detectives.

"HIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!" VT said, as she jumped into their semi-circle. Mizu was following slowly behind.

"Oh, hello VT, Mizu," Kurama said politely.

"Hmmhnnn..." Mizu said. Her eyes were drooping.

"Hehe, she is tired, she is," VT said. She tried propping Mizu on her shoulder, but she refused. "Come on, I'll show you my treetree,"

"Nani?" Yusuke said.

"Her car," Mizu explained.

"What kind of an idiot names their car treetree?" Kuwabara asked to his friends.

"What kind of an idiot names their car?" Hiei said instead.

VT skipped up to her car and hugged it. "How is my treetree??"

"Don't be scared; she's hyped up on sugar right now," Mizu said as she yawned.

Suddenly Mizu screamed as she was hauled into the air and over the shoulder of a bleached hair teenager who had the striking resemblance to Shishiwakamaru, but in human clothing.

"PUT ME DOWN AND I'LL ONLY SCRATCH OUT ONE OF YOUR EYES!!!!!!! Mizu yelled as she pounded on the boy's back.

The boy merely smiled and said "Ah, you must be the new exchange students." The four watched him warily. "My name is Jess, and-"

"HE'S THE SCHOOL PERV WHO'S GOAL IN LIFE IS TO HAVE SEX WITH ALL THE GIRLS IN THE SCHOOL, NOW PUT ME DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Mizu screamed at the top of her lungs.

"You're too much, sweetie-"

"HOW DARE YOU CALL ME SWEETIE, I'LL KILL YOU!!!!!!!" She yelled. Mizu continued to struggle against Jess's firm grip.

Jess laughed. "Now now, you wouldn't want me to lose my grip, now would you? You might get hurt and scar that beautiful face of yours." He returned his gaze to the Reikai Tantei. "Now where was I? Oh yes, what are you doing with my little pixies?"

"YOUR PIXIES!?!?!?!? WE DON'T BELONG TO ANYONE, YOU STUPID HENTAI!!!!!!!" VT exclaimed furiously.

"Heh, it seems that they don't know what you're talking about. Perhaps you had better leave them alone," Kurama smirked.

"Oh, so you CAN speak English," Jess said. "All the better so I don't have play charades with you losers all day. I have much more important things to do with my time. Come, my little nymph," he said, as he turned and began walking away, Mizu still on his shoulders, struggling to get free.

VT ran up to him from behind and punched him square in the back, and he immediately dropped Mizu and landed on his hands and knees. She started to kick and tear at him, but was held back by VT's arms.

"You little bitch, I oughtta-" He began to say, when Mizu began to speak and kick at the same time.

"I'm not A bitch-" She said, kicking him in the stomach. "I'm THE bitch-" Mizu put her foot on his shoulder. "And that's MS. Bitch to you!!!!" And she pushed him onto the asphalt.

VT picked Jess up by the collar. "This is for Mizu." She slapped him. "This is for all women everywhere." She backhanded him. "And this one is just for the hell of it!!" She bitchslapped him very hard, and then gave him a punch straight to the nose, landing him on his ass again. Jess's nose was bleeding.

"You're gonna pay for this one, ohhhh are you ever going to pay," he said as he walked away, his gang surrounding him.

"Anytime, kusohitsu(shithead)!!" Mizu yelled.

"Don't you think that last part was a little over the top?" Kurama asked.

"Nah," VT and Mizu said.

"Well, I guess you girls can take care of yourselves then?" Hiei said, a slight smirk on his face.

"That's right! So long as we're together, we're invincible!!!!!!"

"And what if you're separated?" Kurama asked thoughtfully.

"Well, I guess we're screwed then," Mizu laughed.

Refusing the offer for a ride, Mizu and VT hopped into the car ("Quick!!!! We must escape the wrath of any teachers and get into the treetree getaway car!" VT had said.) and sped away. The four walked almost in silence as they headed across the street to the park where they were to meet the Parkers.

The four easily found them as they had seen a photo of them. Mr. Parker had a mustache, and reminded Kuwabara and Yusuke of Mario, and Mrs. Parker was a cheery short woman with short curly hair.

"Konichiwa Shinzui, Chijin, Hinote, and Koujou," Mrs. Parker. "It's so nice to finally meet all of you."

"All of your things are back at the house, so unless there's something you need to do beforehand, hop in!" Mr. Parker said cheerily as he pointed to the rental van. The Parkers sat in front, Kurama and Hiei in the middle, so they could translate, and Kuwabara and Yusuke in the back.

"Hey guys, did I tell you what happened to Kuwabara in gym today?!" Yusuke said.

"Oh no you don't, Urameshi, you're not about to tell them that!" Kuwabara said, swinging a punch at him to keep him quiet. Yusuke easily dodged.

"What? Did the baka fall into the pool?" Hiei said in Japanese.

"No, VT bounced a basketball off of his head," Yusuke said, still dodging his punches and smiling. Kurama hid a smile as he rolled his eyes and Hiei smirked.

"Should've known," he said.

"That reminds me," Mrs. Parker said, not understanding a word they were saying. She took out a box from in the front seat. "Your parents sent us these translators; just put them on your ears and you'll be able to speak and understand English," she said. She passed four of them to the back.

"Thank you, Mrs. Parker, but Hinote and I don't require these; we know enough English to get by on our own," Kurama said politely, passing two of them back to her and the other two back to the squabbling boys.

Although they looked curiously at it, they slipped them on.

"Testing, testing one two, do you read me, over," Kuwabara said.

"Loud and clear, over," Mr. Parker responded.

"Idiot," Yusuke said. "Hey, I meant that to be in Japanese!!"

"It seems this translator disallows you to use your native language," Kurama said as he examined the box they came in.

"Oh well isn't that just spiffy," Yusuke said sarcastically.

They reached the house and stepped out. It was a large white two story house that was very nice and well kept. There was even a porch with a glider.

As they stepped inside, Mrs. Parker said to them, "the guest rooms are upstairs, but there are only two of them so you'll have to pair up. Your things are in the living room."

Yusuke and Kuwabara rushed upstairs, Kurama and Hiei following at their own pace. Yusuke went into the room on the right and said. "I call dibs on this one!!"

"Hn, baka," Hiei said as he veered to the left and threw the duffel bag that held his human clothing and his normal ones into the corner. He grabbed and changed into his usual black clothing. "Now where's Botan; I want my sword back."

"Here; I was getting tired of holding this anyway," came that bubbly voice once more as Botan tossed the katana at Hiei, who caught it. She hopped off her oar and landed in their room. "So how's it going?"

"Nothing's changed since you last showed up; but we did meet a rather odd student after school, not something I'd like to recount personally," Kurama said quietly, so the Parkers wouldn't hear.

"Hn, some baka ningen tried to kidnap Mizu, but those two ningens battered him around enough to make him leave them alone," Hiei said.

"Oh, yes, I remember watching that!" Botan exclaimed with a smile.

"Oh hey Botan," Yusuke said as he and Kuwabara walked past the room with their things.

"I'm going out," Hiei said as he opened the window. Kurama nodded in agreement with his idea of scouting the area and getting to know their way around. Hiei disappeared in a flash.

"How are those background checks coming?" Kurama asked as Yusuke and Kuwabara walked in.

"They're taking a little longer than we expected; it's a bit more difficult to find information on people from another dimension," Botan sighed. "Maybe I should meet these girls..."

--------------------------------------

"Ok, let's see now..." Mizu said to herself as she sat on the hammock in her rainforest-like garden. Well, technically it was hers and VT's, since she had helped to make it AND it connected both of their backyards, seeing as they lived right next door to each other. Except for the occasional pop up from VT, it was Mizu's safe and quiet haven from the outside world. It was a 30 by 21 square foot plot of land surrounded on the borders by bamboo shoots, and in the middle of this area was a large and deep pond. On the bank of the pond, on the side that was in VT's backyard was a huge weeping willow that had been there when both of their parents had moved into their homes. The vine-branches of the willow draped themselves romantically like a curtain around the pond and the part of the bank that was closer to Mizu's backyard, providing a lot of shade. In order to enter this garden, you had to go through one of two entrances: either through an archway of bamboo on VT's side, which wound in an s pattern so that you wouldn't be able to see directly into the garden, or through a shorter bamboo archway on Mizu's side, which had a small wooden gate that came up to the waist. Outside of the willow's creeping branches was a pathway that went in a circle and connected to both of the entrances. On the side of the path, out of the way of foot-traffic and the willow, was a patch of soil where the two grew various herbs, flowers and such, depending on what time of the year it was; but VT was usually the one who took care of it, seeing as she seemed to have a green thumb for that type of thing.

The hammock was latched onto two metal poles, each of which had been overgrown with vines of sweet peas, so that the metal wouldn't disrupt the beauty of sanctuary from the real world. Next to the hammock was a small green lamp table, for when Mizu or VT wanted to place their laptop there or a drink. Mizu spent much more time in the haven than VT did; in fact, if Mizu wasn't in school, then that would most likely be the place she was at.

Mizu had no homework for that day, to her relief, and had decided to do a little research on the Japan exchange students. She started by going to an English to Japanese to English dictionary site, and typed in the name Koujou Kakuhan. But the search came up with nothing. So instead, Mizu tried the words one at a time. She put in Koujou and came up with several meanings. Some of them were siege, factory, speech, and friendship. On a pad of paper, Mizu wrote down some possibilities. Then she looked up Kakuhan. She wrote down a few of the meanings she found, and started to play around with them. When she finished ten minutes later, she had come up with some meanings: Siege Whip, Speech Beat, and Friendship Stir. Mizu raised an eyebrow, shrugged, and went onto another name.

This time she typed in Chijin. There were only a few meanings for this one, so she wrote down Fool. When she typed in Karuson, she was happy to find there was only one meaning: boy. 'So Chijin is Fool boy? Hmm, or maybe it's Idiot boy? That sounds better, I'll bet VT would love to start calling him baka boy' Mizu said to herself, and she gave a small chuckle before moving onto the next name.

----------------------------------

Hiei hadn't gotten far when he noticed an out-of-place canopy that covered the back of two backyards. He jumped silently to a branch of a tree that covered most of the area, and found it odd that a weeping willow tree was growing in Southern California. He looked down through the branches and saw a young girl with hair he couldn't mistake belonging to anyone else but Mizu. He saw that she was pushing buttons on a flat something-or-other, and, curious, jumped from branch to branch to get a better look. When he did, he saw that it looked something close to that of those computers at the high school. He couldn't see what she was typing on that computer, so he used his Jagan eye to see more clearly. He almost fell when he saw his fake name being put onto the screen.

----------------------------------

"Hinote...flames, blaze, fire? Hmm..." Mizu said aloud. She typed in Reibai and found one meaning: Spirit Medium. "So Hinote's name means Fire Spirit Medium? Weird," Mizu said. So she moved on Shinzui Onmitsu.

"Hmmm, mystery, spirit, essence." She typed in Onmitsu when she got the peculiar feeling she was being watched. Mizu turned her head and looked behind her. Nothing. Her eyes turned towards the sky as she tried to see through the vines obstructing her view into the canopy. "What...huh? Something black was up there, but now it's gone??" Mizu put the laptop aside on the table and got up, parting the vines. There was nothing. Mizu frowned. She knew she had seen something up there, but what had it been?

----------------------------------

'That was a little too close,' Hiei thought as he stood on the nearby rooftop. He hurried back towards the Parkers' house to tell the others what he had found.

----------------------------------

"Ok, let's see, Onmitsu: spy, detective. Detective? Essence spy, no...Spirit Detect- SPIRIT DETECTIVE!?!?!? Ok, now this is just too creepy...I've gotta talk to VT," Mizu said. She jumped up, putting the laptop on the table, and darted towards VT's backdoor.

----------------------------------------------------------------

DUN DUN DUN!!!!!! Mizu has found out what their names mean...but has she figured out that they truly are the guys?? FIND OUT NEXT TIME!!!!!


	8. The Incident

Whoo hoo, next chappie!!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN YYH, GET OVER IT!!! I don't own the quotes from Finding Nemo either.

Farewell Butterfli

By Ryoken

"VT!!!! VT VT VT VT VT!!!!!!!!! Mizu said, pounding and shouting on the wall next to the glass sliding doors. VT came scurrying to the door and opened it.

"You DO remember the doors are always open during the day, right?" VT said.

"Oh yeah..." Mizu said. She shook her head to bring her back out of her thoughts. "VT, I was looking up those guys' names on the Internet and-"

"Shinzui's name means Spirit Detective, I know. And Chijin is Idiot boy, Hinote is Fire Medium, and Koujou is Plant Whip. I was looking up the same thing," VT said.

"What...What do you think? I mean, they do kinda look like them..."

"Yeah...but they're just an anime...aren't they?" VT questioned.

"Yes, but...," Mizu sighed in frustration. "What should we do?"

"Maybe we should run some tests to see if they're them?"

"Good idea!! Why didn't I think of that?"

"But what kinda tests should we run?"

"We'll ask them questions only they would know!!!" Mizu said brilliantly.

"Ooo, ooo, I wanna come up with some!!" VT said.

"Right! Come on!" Mizu said, stepping into the house.

----------------------------------------------

"So they know who we are?" Kurama asked after Hiei explained what he saw.

"I don't know, I just know that Mizu was looking up what our names meant in Japanese, that's all," he said.

"Who knows what our names mean?" Yusuke said as he passed the door.

"Mizu, or at least that's what Hiei said," Kurama said.

"So what if she knows what our names mean; doesn't mean they know who we really are, right?" Yusuke said.

"That's a good point; we're from an entirely different dimension, or so Botan says, so it shouldn't matter..." Kurama said, a hint of worry in his tone.

"Kurama, no one knows who we are, ok?! Stop worrying over nothing!!" Yusuke said just as Mrs. Parker called them down for dinner.

-----------------------------------------------

"Hi guys!!" Mizu said as she spotted them. She was a little nervous about this investigation, but she knew she just had to do it; she didn't want VT to have all the fun.

"Hey Mizu," Yusuke said. Mizu and VT stopped dead in their tracks.

"Le gasp!!!!!!!!!" VT said.

"What?" Yusuke asked, looking puzzled.

"YOU ESPEAKY ENGLISH!!!!!!!" Mizu shouted, throwing her hands into the air.

"Huh, oh!! Yeah, our parents sent us these translators," Yusuke said, pointing to behind his ear.

"Coolio," Mizu said.

"Uh, hey Yusuke, something's been on my mind," VT said.

Yusuke looked a little worried. "What?"

"What school did you go to in Japan?"

"THAT'S what's been on your mind?" Yusuke said, realizing he had been worried over nothing.

"Yeah."

"Sarayashiki. Why?" VT seemed to turn pale. "Uh, you ok?"

"Uh, erm, yes!!! I am okie dokie," VT said, staring off into space. She suddenly turned to Mizu and cried "Can I!??! Can I can I?!! Huh huh????"

"Uhhh, do what?" She said, confused.

"Can I, pleaaaaaaaaaase!?"

"Uhhh, ok..."

Suddenly, she glomped Yusuke by the neck and said "'I shall name him Squishie, and he will be mine. He will be my Squishie.'" Mizu sweatdropped as the boys looked at each other, silently asking one another if they should be prying her off of his neck.

"VT, off!!!" Mizu said urgently, seeing Yusuke turning a little blue. VT immediately let go, leaving Yusuke to gasp for air. "You ok?" He nodded.

"What was that all about?" Kurama asked.

"I have no idea..." Mizu lied. 'Ok, so he's from Sarayashiki, THAT'S definitely a sign, but better to safe than sorry.' VT looked like she was about to burst from hyperness. "Uh, I think I should get her to class before she explodes. See you later," Mizu said, practically dragging VT along.

------------------------------------------------

As soon as they were out of sight, Mizu let go of VT. "Are you crazy?!!?"

"Yes!!" VT said happily. Mizu slapped her forehead.

"Do you want them to know we know that we might know who they are?" Mizu said.

"I dunno; do we??"

"No!!! At least, not yet anyway. Besides, just because they answered one question right, doesn't necessarily mean it's them!"

"But he goes to Sarayashiki!!!!"

"So?! Sarayashiki might actually exist!" VT looked disappointed. "Look, you just ask Chijin-"

"Kuwabaka."

"Chijin during P.E., Shinzui during history, and I'll ask Koujou during Government, and Hinote during Computers, ok?"

"Ok!"

"And please, no more sudden outbursts of glomping?"

"Right, right," VT said as she hurried to the locker room.

"Gods, that girl is gonna get us into some deep trouble one of these days," Mizu said to herself as she hurried to her own class.

------------------------------------------------

"Hello Chijin!!" VT yelled from across the blacktop when she spotted Kuwabara's orange hair. He gave a small wave back and gulped as she came racing towards him.

"Um um, can I ask ya something?" She said.

'Uh oh, better be careful,' Kuwabara thought, remembering what Kurama had warned before they had gone their separate ways.

---FLASHBACK---------------------------------

"Yusuke, are you all right?" Kurama had asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm ok..." He had replied, rubbing his neck.

"Perhaps we should be more careful about how we go answering questions," Kurama had said. "I don't think any of us want another one of these incidents."

"Good idea...Hey Kurama, do you think...?" Yusuke had started to ask.

"They might, just be cautious," he had said.

-----------------------------END FLASHBACK---

"Sure, what is it?"

"What's your favorite color?" Kuwabara fell on his face.

"Uh, blue I guess," he answered as he got up.

"What's your favorite food?"

Kuwabara raised his eyebrow. "Uhhh, sushi..."

"What's your favorite type of music?"

"Rock!" He said, grinning.

"How's your sister?"

"She's fine...Wait a minute, that's not what I meant!!" He said, realizing his possibly big mistake.

"Ooooooooohhhh, so you DO have a sister???" She said interestedly.

"Uh, yeah, I do," he said warily.

"What's her name??"

"Uh, uh...um, Cho."

"Her name is Cho? You didn't seem very sure of yourself."

"Of course it is!!" He said. Then he stormed away from her, cursing himself for not being more careful.

--------------------------------------------------

"Hey Koujou, do you like plants?" Mizu asked at the end of the period. She knew that asking him during class might just get her silence in return.

"Plants? Why do you ask?" He said curiously.

"Oh no reason really; I was just wondering because VT loves plants; she draws em all over her papers sometimes," she said, trying to sound like it didn't really matter.

"Well, yes, I suppose I do," he said, thinking it couldn't hurt to reveal something like his interests.

"That's cool," she said. They walked to their next class in silence. That is until Hiei walked in the classroom. Once Hiei sat down in the swivel chair, which he was rather amused with, Mizu got up and walked over to Kurama's computer. "Hey Koujou, why does Hinote wear that bandana on his forehead all the time?" She asked, trying to sound innocent. Hiei could hear every word that Mizu said, and he listened closely to what Kurama had to say.

"Erm, Hinote doesn't like to talk about that, nor does he like others to explain why," he said plainly.

"Did something...happen in his past then?" She asked.

"Something like that, yes," Kurama said, trying to sound like it was something really awful.

"Oh...I see," Mizu said, lost in thought. 'Something in his past? Yeah, sure,' she thought. "Uh, thanks," she said, and went back to her seat.

Now Hiei was just a little curious as to why she was asking that question; perhaps he was too curious for his own good because Hiei closed his eyes and used his Jagan to read Mizu's thoughts.

'-I mean, who else has black spiky hair that defies gravity? Not to mention a white starburst. Don't know many people with that kind of hair. Plus his bad-ass attitude. There's just got to be a way to prove to myself that Hinote really is Hiei...-' Hiei's eyes flew open at the mention of his real name. She knew...She knew who he was, but how? He'd never seen her before in his life!

_KURAMA!!!_ He yelled into the kitsune's mind.

_You don't have to yell, you know._

_This is no time for teasing, kitsune! Mizu knows who I am!_

_What?! How did you- Wait...Hiei, you didn't!!_

_Didn't what?_

_Please tell me you didn't try reading her mind!_

_How else would I know, baka kitsune?!_

_Hiei! You know you're not supposed to do that!!_

_That's besides the point, Kurama. How could she know who I am?!_ He sounded strangely concerned.

_I don't know; I'm not the one reading minds..._

_You're not helping, you know._

_Are you even sure that she knows?_

_Yes, I'm sure! She said "There's just got to be a way to prove to myself that Hinote really is Hiei"!_ Now he sounded angry.

_Well, so long as she can't prove who you are, there's no need to get upset and worry about it; just don't reveal any information about yourself, and you'll be fine._

Hiei cut off the connection with Kurama. He suddenly was feeling as though eyes were burrowing into the back of his head. He turned to catch Mizu looking at him. She immediately blushed profoundly and turned her head towards the computer screen. More curious than ever, he used his Jagan again.

'Aww, man, he caught me looking at him!! I must be red as a tomato right now, how embarrassing.' Mizu's thoughts turned from Hiei to the work before her, so Hiei stopped looking into her thoughts.

'Humans can be so stupid sometimes...not to mention boring,' he thought to himself. He felt like he was being watched again, so he turned his head and caught her staring at him again. She blushed a second time and turned her eyes towards the screen once more.

"Why do you keep staring at me?" He asked. Mizu turned to him, and seemed to blush even more.

"Oh...uh, no reason!! Ehehe..." She said weakly.

"You're a bad liar," Hiei noted.

"Erm, uh...right..." She said. She went back to work, hoping he wouldn't question her further. He grinned inwardly, knowing what she was thinking without reading her thoughts; humans thought all alike.

So what Hiei did was he put his elbows on the desk of Mizu's computer, placed his chin on his palms, and stared back at her. Mizu tried to ignore it for a little bit, but then couldn't help but ask.

"Why are you staring at me?" She asked nervously.

"No reason," he replied. Mizu remained silent for a while, and then, she suddenly, slowly, reached out her left hand to touch the bandana where the edge of Hiei's Jagan eye would be. As soon as he realized what she was after however, he grabbed her wrist tightly, and narrowed his eyes. "What do you think you're doing?" His tone was extremely angry, but it was calm.

"I-I'm sorry...I didn't mean-ow, that hurts! Please, let go!" Mizu gasped. Hiei's grip had gotten much tighter until it felt like he was going to smash her wrist in his grasp.

A hand came onto Hiei's shoulder as someone sharply, but quietly, said "Hinote!" And he let go. It was Kurama. Mizu retracted her hand and grasped her own wrist in pain.

"Don't ever touch me again," Hiei said finally. Kurama looked at the back of Hiei's head for a little while longer as he turned to face the computer. Then he turned to Mizu.

"I'm sorry..." She apologized again, trembling a little bit. 'What were you thinking, you idiot?! Did you ACTUALLY think he'd let you see his Jagan eye?!?'

"Are you hurt?" Kurama asked. Although Mizu was still in a bit of pain and was still holding her wrist, she shook her head. "Are you sure?" She nodded. Still a bit concerned, Kurama went back to his seat, hoping the teacher hadn't noticed the incident.

---------------------------------------

The bell rang, signaling the break between classes to begin. Mizu and VT walked together out to the tree. VT was getting a little worried; Mizu hadn't spoken a word at all during English. She just was staring at the desk as she did her work, which was highly unusual. She had tried to get information out of her, but nothing seemed to work.

"Hey Mizu, you feel like playing?" She asked.

"I suppose..." She said. Well, it was a start.

VT told Mizu to go on ahead while she went to get the instruments, which she did. The others came one a time; when Hiei came, Mizu didn't look at him. But it wasn't long before VT came back, flute and violin case in hand.

"Here we goes, Mizu," VT said, putting the case down, smiling. Mizu tried to smile back, but it was a weak one.

"What's wrong with Mizu?" Yusuke asked VT. She shrugged.

"I dunno, she won't tell me; hell, she won't even talk to me," VT whispered back. VT watched as Mizu solemnly took out her violin.

Mizu placed the violin under her chin and took the bow string in the opposite hand. She started to warm up the violin when she suddenly cried out in pain and dropped the violin and bow to grasp her left wrist.

"Mizu Mizu!! What's wrong!?!? Are you ok???" VT asked concerned, the others turning their heads to see what happened. Even Hiei turned to look.

"My wrist!! Augh, it hurts!!!" She yelled. Mizu looked at her wrist to see that a bone was sticking out. "Oh my goddess..." She started to tremble.

"Holy shit, Mizu, what happened to your wrist?!?" VT said, noticing where Mizu had looked. Mizu didn't answer. She just kept holding her arm below the wrist and staring at it. "Someone go get the nurse!!" Chris got up and ran as fast as could towards the nurse's office. "Mizu, what happened??" VT ordered. Still, Mizu said nothing.

"I believe I can explain," Kurama said. "You see, in class today, Mizu was trying to touch Hinote's bandana, and he grabbed her wrist. I believe that maybe he gripped it a little too harshly," he said, giving Hiei a glare, who looked away. "and perhaps the bone was almost out of it's joint. The violin playing must've cause it to come out completely, since that's what seems to be the case."

VT was furious. Nobody hurt her friends, NOBODY! She got up from her crouch next to Mizu and ran straight towards Hiei, intending to pound him to a pulp. He jumped up quickly enough however, and dodged the hand that came out to grab him. He then agilely jumped into the lowest branch of the tree, which was pretty high up. VT, not ready to give up the chase, jumped on the trunk and pushed herself up to the next branch, quickly catching up. Hiei was surprised that a human could get up to that branch so quickly. He merely jumped back down to the ground, but was caught off guard when VT jumped off the branch as well, and landed right in front of him. She took a swing at him, and because she had caught him off guard, she was able to hit him right on the mouth.

When Mizu heard the sound of flesh being hit, she said. "VT, stop..." But VT couldn't hear her; she was blinded by rage. VT hit Hiei again, this time in the stomach with her knee, and his neck with her elbow, Mizu watching in horror. "VT, stop it!!" But she wouldn't stop. She hit him over and over again; the blows were coming at such a rate that Hiei didn't have a chance to get away.

"NOBODY HURTS MY FRIENDS, YOU PUNK!!!" VT screamed as she kept beating him.

Mizu stood up. "That's enough, VT!!" Smack! "VT!!" Crash! "VTTT!!!" Mizu screamed. She suddenly ran into the middle of one of VT's punches and took the blow herself. Mizu coughed and sputtered out blood as she sank to her knees from the blow to her stomach. "No more, VT..." Tears began to slide down her cheeks.

Hiei wobbled a few steps back after the onslaught. He had a black-eye and his nose was bleeding, as well as his gums. He was positive some of those punches would be leaving a bruise or two, not to mention his cheek might be swollen in an hour or so. But why had Mizu taken that last blow? He would have thought she'd enjoy seeing VT getting revenge on him. He'd never known a human to be able to land a hit on him, except for Yusuke. Ever. And except for Kurama, who wasn't all human, he'd never seen any human take a hit for someone else, much less for him.

"No more fighting...VT..." Mizu cried, still clutching her arm, the tears still streaming down her face. "You know how much I hate it..." She said, looking up at her.

"Yeah...Yeah I know, but-"

"Don't. I don't want your vengeance," Mizu, trying to stand up; VT was a better build for taking physical blows, but Mizu was extremely weak of body. "It was my own fault for being stupid, and I'll take whatever the punishment may be for that." Mizu gave a glance back at Hiei, who had a look of astonishment on his face. She gave a little bit of a smile. "I'm sorry...for not being more respectful...Hiei," then her mind slipped away in unconsciousness.

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END OF CHAPTER!! MUHAHAHAHAHA, I am so ebil!!!! devil and pitchfork REVIEW, MY REVIEWERS!!! XD


	9. Bad Happenings

Whoo, update update!! It gets a little lemony in this chapter, just as a word of warning. And a full Nelson is where you stand behind a person and wrap your arms around your victim, clenching her hands together behind their neck, if you didn't know.

Disclaimer- I own nothing, you hear? Not YYH, not Change by Deftones, not the Muffin man nursery rhyme, k?

Farewell Butterfli

By Ryoken

"Hey, Hinote!! You know where Mizu is? And what happened to you, you look like you got run over by a bus," The coach asked.

"Hn," he said. He wished that stupid ningen would stop pestering him. He just wanted to be alone with his thoughts...Maybe he should just skip gym today...

As soon as no one was looking, Hiei used his speed to get on to the roof of the locker room and he leaned back on the tinted sky light. She had called him by his real name...

---FLASHBACK--------------------------------

"I'm sorry...for not being more respectful...Hiei," Mizu had said as she passed into unconsciousness and fell to the ground.

"Mizu! Mizu, wake up!" Kurama had said as he and Yusuke had rushed to her side. Hiei stared at her half in shock. It shouldn't have, but for some reason, it had. He had looked up at VT, who was looking down at Mizu, backing slowly away. She had slowly lifted her head and looked Hiei dead in the eye. Something in her eyes had flashed both anger and sadness at once as she locked eyes with him. Hiei had suddenly felt something prickling at his ankles. He had looked down and saw that the blades of grass around his feet had what looked like thorns, and they had been slowly growing around his feet. He had quickly moved, his body threatening to lose balance and fall. He had looked to VT, but she had gathered her things and was headed down the hall to art class.

Kuwabara, now that VT had gone, had come quickly over to Hiei and had grabbed and lifted him by the collar. "You little punk!! How could do you something like that to a girl!?? I should beat you to a pulp, you little-"

"Kuwabara, that's enough!!" Yusuke yelled. "What's done is done, ok?! Now help us get Mizu closer to where the paramedics can get to her." Kuwabara had glared at him, but he put Hiei down and helped Yusuke and Kurama carry Mizu away.

He had raised his fingers to his lips and wiped off some of the blood that was there. He wasn't sure what he should do, so he had left the scene and gone to the restroom to wash off the rest of the blood. Then he went to class.

----------------------------END FLASHBACK---

"Mizu..." Hiei said out loud. He suddenly remembered something that happened the day before. He remembered that he had asked Mizu why she was named water in Japanese, and all she said was that VT gave the nickname to her, and that she hated her real name. Now, he started to wonder why. Suddenly, he shook away his thoughts. 'Great; looks like hanging around ningens is starting to rub off on me.'

Teleporting from rooftop to rooftop, he ended up on the roof of the science lab where he found VT, Yusuke, Kurama, and the baka. They weren't speaking about anything in particular, as far as Hiei could tell, but they were talking. He noticed VT's left hand was gripping a beaker tighter than she probably should've been. Especially when the glass broke in her hand and made several large cuts. He watched as VT quickly knocked the pieces of the beaker on the ground, to make it look like it had fallen. The three boys down below looked at each other and frowned as the teacher came over with a broom and dustpan. As soon as the teacher left, Kurama took VT's hand and a handkerchief from his pocket, picked what small pieces of glass were still in her hand, and wrapped it around VT's cuts. She thanked him quietly, and Kurama nodded as they continued working.

Hiei rested his back against the glass pane, his eyes shutting, but then he stood up. "Grrrr, why the hell should I care?? If anything I should be mad at her! But..." He scratched his head. "I don't feel the least bit angry..." Hiei finally made a decision as he teleported himself away from the school.

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Mizu opened her eyes slightly and saw nothing but blurry white. She could hear only mumbled words that seemed to sound more like buzzing. So she closed her eyes, and fell back asleep.

What seemed to be a moment later, she tried opening her eyes again, and this time, she was able to see clearer. She looked around herself and found that she was in a hospital room.

"You're awake," came a familiar voice. Mizu tried to look in the direction of the voice, but she couldn't move around enough to see who was at the window. But he came into view soon enough; it was Hiei.

"Oh...it's you, Hinote..." Mizu said, turning slightly red. She turned away from him and looked at the clock on the opposite wall. It was only 2:15, and school got out at 2:45.

"My name's not Hinote; it's Hiei," he corrected.

"So, you really are-"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"...Nothing. Nothing at all," she said, looking away.

"Hn. You're still a poor liar," he said. He sat on the edge of the hospital bed. Mizu blushed.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you still be at school?" Mizu asked, changing the subject.

"You'd rather I be at school than come and visit you?" He asked.

"No; I was just curious," she said, looking away from him again. Hiei tilted his head slightly at her; why the heck did she keep looking away from him?!

"I came here to ask you something," he said, changing the subject again and standing up.

"What is it?"

"Why did you take that blow?" Mizu turned her head away again. "And would you stop looking away from me?! It's getting to be annoying."

"Oh. Sorry," she said.

"Well?"

"I...I didn't want her...to hurt you anymore..." she said.

"Yes, but why didn't you want her to get revenge?" He asked.

"What would that have done? Satisfy me?" She laughed slightly. "All that would've done was anger you more, and then you would've started beating her up, and there'd be bloodshed everywhere. I hate fighting..." Hiei realized that she was right; that's probably exactly what he would've done if she hadn't stopped VT. He nodded at her.

He was about to leave when she grabbed his arm. She looked at him, almost sadly. "Please, don't hate VT for doing what she did." She suddenly remembered his threat about never touching him, and let go, looking away again. He realized he remembered that threat too.

"It's all right," Hiei said. "and no, I don't hate VT for that." He started to leave again when he remembered something. "Oh. Mizu, what's your real name, and why do you hate it?"

"Why do you want to know that?" She asked.

He shrugged. Mizu smiled.

"My real name is Nixie, and I have my own reasons for hating it," she said.

"Nixie, huh? I'll remember that," he said. Then he jumped out the window.

Mizu turned her gaze to the door. "So he really is Hiei...and that means they're all really the Spirit Detectives...Wow..." She said, just before she fell asleep.

-----------------------------------------------

"There you are, Hiei, we've been looking all over for you," Yusuke said. It was 3:05, and Hiei hadn't been waiting outside of the locker room like the day before.

"Hn."

"Where have you been?!" Yusuke said.

"Hn." Hiei looked away.

"Damn it, Hiei, answer me!!!"

"Enough!" Kurama shouted. "Let's just go home; I think we've all had enough excitement for one day."

"Wait!! Guys, wait!!" VT said from the parking lot. They stopped and waited for VT catch up. "Hey, where are you guys staying? In case, you know, I have to get in contact with you?"

"Do you know where the Parkers live?" Kurama asked.

"The Parkers? You're staying with them??" They nodded. "Sure, I know where they live." She let them go on their way, but then she spoke out again. "Hey, erm, Shorty, can I talk to you a minute?"

Hiei frowned at being called that name, but he agreed, letting the others go on ahead.

"Should I keep calling you Hinote, or...?"

"Hn, I really don't care, but I suppose you might want to keep calling me that around these ningen fools," he said.

"Ok. Well anyway, I was wondering if you'd drop by my house a little later. I want to give you something...as an apology." Hiei raised his eyebrow in suspicion. "I'm not gonna ambush you or anything, ok!? For Mizu's sake."

"Fine. Where do you live?" She told him that she lived across the street from the neighboring house of the house across the street from the Parkers.

"Just go in a straight line, and I'm on the next street," she said, and hurried off to her treetree.

------------------------------------------------

A half an hour later, Hiei arrived at VT's front door. VT was waiting for him. She let him in and he followed her upstairs. She led him into her room, and then through another door which lead to an artist's studio. She took down a pastel painting from the wall and handed it to him. Hiei raised an eyebrow as he looked at the picture. It was an enlarged version of the butterfly stream that Yusuke had seen the day before.

"And just what's this for?" He said.

"It's my...apology," she said. "I usually never give the things I make away, but I thought I'd make an exception."

"Right..." He said, putting it under his arm and feeling a little awkward. Suddenly, the song Butterfly from Dance Dance Revolution began playing and VT answered her cell phone.

"Hello? Oh hi!...Oh, I see...Would it be all right if I came and visited?...Ok, cool...bye!" VT hung up. "That was Mizu's mother. She said Mizu has to stay at the hospital over-night."

"I see."

"Erm, you wanna come with and visit her? We can ask the others too, if you wanted," she asked. Hiei shrugged.

"Hn, whatever."

-------------------------------------------

Mizu felt incredibly hot. She opened her eyes and saw heat fumes all around her. She sat up and saw that she was sitting on a gigantic rock inside of a volcano. The lava was licking the sides of the slab of rock, bubbling and boiling. Mizu looked around, but she didn't see any place where she could get to the edge and climb out. Suddenly, a song started playing; Mizu recognized it as Change (Into a Fly) by Deftones. She remembered hearing it when she saw Queen of the Damned.

I watched you change

Into a fly

I looked away

You were on fire...

Mizu turned from looking at the side of the wall to the opposite side of the volcano and saw Hiei standing there. He wasn't wearing his cloak, and he was bare-chested. He started walking towards Mizu as the lava crashed against the side of the rock like a wave of water._I watched a change in you_

_It's like you never had wings_

_And you feel so alive_

_I've watched you change..._

Mizu didn't move as Hiei came towards her, walking briskly. When he reached her, he grabbed her arms and pulled her into a close embrace. Then he roughly kissed her fully on the mouth.

_I took you home_

_Set you on the glass..._

Hiei made Mizu lie on the ground, still holding onto her arms, the heat coming the rock engulfing her, vents of steam coming from pockets all around. She felt like she had lost control of her will power to do anything, let alone say a word as he gently caressed her head and back, kissing her lips, making his way to her neck.

_I pulled off your wings_

_Then I laughed..._

Hiei moved his lips from her neck to her stomach, lifting her shirt. Mizu felt Hiei release his grip on her arms, but she still couldn't move herself. She felt pain as she saw Hiei lift his head, a malicious grin on his face, fangs barred, blood dripping from his chin.

_I watched a change in you_

_It's like you never had words_

_Now you feel so alive_

_I watched you change..._

Mizu felt horrified at the sight. But then, another figure started coming into view.

_I look at the cross..._

The figure was tall and robed in black. A hood hid his face. He reminded her of a Ringwraith from that movie, The Lord of the Rings.

And I look away...

He came closer until he stood over Hiei.

Give you the gun...

Mizu watched in horror as the figure raised his right arm and in it was a long sword; he was preparing for an attack.

Blow me away...

The sword came down in full swing, not towards Hiei, but towards her. The tip of it slashed a large gash in her neck. Mizu felt the blood flowing down her throat, filling up her lungs, suffocating her...

Mizu sat up in bed and gasped, grabbing her neck with her right hand. It was a dream. Tears started to pour down her cheeks as she shook in fright.

"Mizu??" Someone said. Said-someone put a hand on Mizu's shoulder, and they could feel her trembling. Mizu seemed like she was in a trance. "Mizu..." She didn't move, except for the shivering, keeping her focus on the wall in front of her.

"Mizu, are you ok?" Said another voice. "I know it's against the rules to do this, but...Hiei, can you try and reach her?" Mizu blinked.

"Hn, fine." Hiei came into Mizu's line of sight as he took the bandana off his forehead. Mizu tensed. Before Hiei could reach his hand to Mizu's own forehead, she got out of bed.

"Mizu, maybe you shouldn't be getting out of bed yet..." a different voice said. Mizu's breathing started to get more rapid as her gaze didn't leave Hiei's figure. All of a sudden, Mizu ran out of the room and down the hall.

"Mizu!" One of the voices shouted.

She had to get away. She didn't want to be here, she wanted to be back home in her sanctuary. And if she could, that's where she was going to go.

Mizu pressed the button the elevator repeatedly, hoping the thing would hurry up. It wasn't fast enough, so she continued on, searching for the stairs. She found them and opened the door, quickly running down them as fast as her legs would carry her. But it wasn't fast enough as she was pinned to the wall by Hiei.

"What's wrong, Nixie?" He said, his Jagan eye glowing.

"Please, stop! Don't!" She said, her tears renewing. Hiei released his hold on her, and watched from the railing as she sank to the floor of the step, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Nixie-?"

"Don't call me that..." She said quietly. Hiei didn't say anything as she dug her face into her knees. The sound of footsteps came not long after.

"Mizu!! Mizu, what's the matter with you?!?" VT said, shaking Mizu's shoulders a little bit. She didn't say anything. "Mizu, please, tell me; did you have a nightmare?" Mizu nodded slightly. "Finally, we're getting somewhere. Mizu, there's nothing to be scared of, it was just a dream." But she didn't seem comforted.

"Mizu, why don't you tell us what happened? You'll feel better," Kurama suggested. But nothing. "What if Hiei looked-" she shook her head violently.

"Mizu, was it really all that bad?" VT asked. Mizu didn't answer. She just held herself tighter. "Wait, did it involve Hiei?" Hiei raised an eyebrow. Mizu looked up at VT, then Hiei, then VT again. "Well, c'mon, what happened?" She said.

"No wait, VT; leave her alone for now. Whatever this dream was, it's terrified her greatly," Kurama said. "Let's just take her back to her room for now." VT nodded.

The two picked Mizu up by each arm and lead her back up the stairs. Hiei stayed where he was until the door closed behind them. He put the bandana back on and wandered around for a bit, wondering to himself, until he wandered back to Mizu's hospital room where she was asleep, the tears dried on her face.

"How's your hand doing, VT?" Yusuke asked, trying to break the silence.

"It's fine; don't worry about me," VT said. Yusuke tried to grab VT's wrist, to examine it more closely, but VT quickly flipped him, karate style, and he landed hard on his back.

"Do you know...the Muffin man..." Mizu suddenly mumbled in her sleep, turning her head.

"The Muffin man?" Yusuke repeated as he got off the floor.

"The Muffin man!" VT said, nodding.

"Do we know the Muffin man?" Kurama said, catching on quickly.

"He lives down Drury Lane," VT said. Hiei looked confused.

"What in the seven makais are you talking about?" He said, folding his arms.

"The Muffin man," VT and Kurama said in unison.

"Hey wait, I know the Muffin man!!" Yusuke said, finally getting it.

"The Muffin man??" VT said with excitement.

"THE Muffin man," Yusuke said as though he were proud of it.

"So, you know the Muffin man who lives down Drury lane?" Kuwabara said, still a little confused.

"Yes, I know the Muffin man," Yusuke said.

"Detective, do you even have any idea as to what you're saying?! Who the hell is this Muffin man???" Hiei said, confused as all hell.

"Why, he's the Muffin man!" VT answered.

"Get with the program, Hiei!" Yusuke said. Hiei gave him a death glare and a look of disgust. Suddenly, while she was distracted, Kurama grabbed VT's wrist while Yusuke had her in a "Full Nelson". Kurama quickly took off the handkerchief and looked at the wound as VT struggled. It was scabbed, but otherwise was healing nicely. He nodded firmly to Yusuke just as VT broke out of the hold. VT looked at them suspiciously, but the both of them just smiled and shrugged. VT didn't look too happy as she punched Yusuke in the stomach.

"And if you ever do that to me again, I can assure you, your punishment will be much, much more painful," she said as Yusuke growled slightly and backed away, bent over in "slight" pain. Kurama backed slowly away, not wanting the same fate as Yusuke. Mizu turned over in her sleep as the room was quiet until VT spoke once more; this time, however, it was more of a yell. "HOLY CRAP, I'M IN THE SAME ROOM AS THE SPIRIT DETECTIVES!!!!!!!!"

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Yes, it finally dawns!!! ' Long-ass chapter, ne? Hope you enjoyed!!


	10. The Small Beginning

Well, for those of you DON'T look at my profile page, my computer got so fucked up it had to be COMPLETELY wiped!! Everything, my stories, my art, and my music, all gone. So you can imagine that after a lifetime of work gone, I really didn't feel like updating anything; however, I, luckily, was able to find the first part of this on my laptop huggles laptop. So you peoples may be getting more updates soon...Depending upon reviews, of course ;D

Disclaimer- starts singing to the tune of Jimmy Crack Corn I don't own, so you no sue. I don't own, so you no sue. I don't own, so you no sue! Aaaaaaaand I don't know the rest of this song! HEY!

Farewell Butterfli

By Ryoken

"SHHHHHHHHH!!!! You want to wake the dead??!" Yusuke hushed as VT shouted. Mizu stirred in her sleep and opened her eyes.

"Hey, Mizu. We're sorry if we woke you up," Kurama said.

"No, it's ok..." she said sleepily. Mizu noticed VT's hand. "VT, what happened to your hand?"

"It's nothing; forget it," VT said, quickly hiding it behind her back.

"VT broke a beaker with her hand; it made some pretty nasty cuts," Yusuke said. As soon as he said it, he was on the floor.

"Yusuke, be quiet!" VT said. Suddenly, she stiffened. "Wow, I just hit Yusuke Urameshi...And I wasn't even trying..." VT blinked. Suddenly, the door opened and in walked the doctor.

"Well, hello there, Nixie," the doctor said. Hiei caught her visibly wince as the doctor looked away for a moment. "And how are you doing? Any pains at all?" Mizu shook her head. Even so, the doctor came to the side of the bed and examined her wrist, gently lifting and lowering it. He nodded affirmatively, and left. Yusuke sat on the floor and rubbed the back of his head.

"Ow...Geez, you sure do hit hard, VT," Yusuke said. "Kinda reminds me of Genkai..." He said thoughtfully. VT seemed to blush at the comment, though she tried to hide it.

"Your name's Nixie?" Kuwabara asked. Mizu grumbled and nodded. Yusuke and Kuwabara looked at each other for a second, then attempted to hold in their laughter. Mizu grabbed one of her pillows and threw it at Kuwabara's head while VT slapped Yusuke in the back of the head to shut them up.

"So, uh, Mizu," VT said, changing the subject. "When will you be able to play the violin again?"

"The doctor never said," she said. "Then again, I never asked," she added thoughtfully. Then she popped the big question. "So, why are you guys here, anyway?"

Three out of the four boys looked away in avoidance to the question, but Kurama was the one to speak up. "It's...not something that should be talked about. At least not here, Mizu."

"Why not?"

"It isn't safe to speak of these things here."

Suddenly, a nurse came in. She had brown hair, and looked ordinary, like all of the nurses.

"As soon as we put a cast on that wrist of yours, you can go home, Nixie," she said, making Mizu wince once more, and Yusuke and Kuwabara snicker. "Come with me." Mizu got up, a little wobbly at first, and followed the nurse down the hall and out of sight.

"So why isn't it safe?" VT continued.

"We can't say right now," Kurama answered.

"Why?"

"Because it isn't safe here."

"Why?"

"Because it isn't..."

"Why?"

"Because we said so," Kurama tried to finalize, more than a little annoyed at the game she was playing.

VT frowned. "Don't you trust us?"

"It's not that, it's not safe here."

"Why?"

"Baka ningen, stop asking why!!" Hiei growled angrily. When everyone stared at him, he scowled some more and left the room.

--------------------------

For the next twenty minutes, the four sat in silence, VT sitting on the window ledge, bumping her heels on the wall. Out of boredom, VT looked out the window. Her eyes widened and her face grew even more pale when she saw a familiar red-head struggling to get away before she was forced into a black Honda.

"Guys, Mizu's being kidnapped!!!" VT cried as she continued to watch. The others gathered around the window, struggling to see, but all they could make out was a black form being tossed into the limo as the door was shut.

"Well what are we waiting for, let's go!!!!" Kuwabara said as he threw back his fist to knock out the glass.

"Hold it!" Yusuke said, making Kazuma stop before his fist hit the window. "If you do that, it's gonna alert all of the nurses around here, and then we'll never catch em. Kurama, you go and find Botan, tell her what's happened. VT, call a nurse and have them call the police-"

"No! I'm going to go catch the bastards who are kidnaping Mizu!!"

"VT, you won't be able to keep up with us. Besides, you can't track Hiei's energy, if that was him they threw in. Please, just stay here and alert the police, ok??" Furious, VT stomped out of the room, but knew there wasn't much she could do. "Let's go, Kuwabara!!"

The two ran down the stairs as fast as they could, but by the time they got to where the car had been, it was gone.

"Damn!" Yusuke said. "Alright, time to do some energy hunting..." Yusuke tried sensing Hiei's energy, but couldn't find it, which could mean one of two things: Hiei was either dead, or unconscious. Yusuke hoped it was the latter.

--------------------------------

"Nurse!!!...Nurse!!!!" VT shouted down the hall on her way to nurse's station. "What the..." VT pondered out loud. The halls and help desk that were normally bustling with activity were completely empty. "Helloooooooooooooooo?!" Vt echoed into a deserted hallway. Ignoring the need to find a nurse, VT stepped into the back office to find a phone. To her surprise, she found the reason as to why the nurses and doctors weren't wandering around: they were lying unconscious on the floor. "Talk about lying down on the job," VT said as she used the phone to call the cops.

------------------------

"Kidnapped?!?!? Oh, great!!!" Botan said through the communicator.

"What's wrong, Botan?" Kurama asked after he had explained what had happened.

"I just found out from Koenma: those are the two you're looking for!!!"

"Perfect..."

------------------------

"Hiei, wake up!" Mizu pleaded, gently slapping the side of his face. "Hiei, please!!!" This time she got a groan out of him.

"Ugh, what happened?" He said as he sat up, rubbing his temple.

"I don't know. I thought the nurse was taking me to get my wrist rebandaged, but then she opened a backdoor into an alley; that's when I felt like I was being pushed into this car, so I struggled. Then they threw you in with me."

"All I can remember is following you and then getting hit on the side of my head," he grumbled. Suddenly, the car stopped and the right door opened. On the other side was the right entrance to another Honda, this one white. Both doors opened to create a small hallway, so that the both of them couldn't run away unless they could jump quite high. Otherwise, there was no one there, not even a driver.

"I guess we're supposed to go into the other one," Mizu said.

_Get out of the car, but when we get to the middle, hang on_, Hiei said into her mind. She stepped out of the car, and once Hiei had gotten out, he swiftly picked her up and jumped on top of the white car. From there, he began jumping from one side of the building to the other. Mizu, being afraid of heights, held on a little tighter with each jump. Once Hiei reached the top of the skyscraper, he set Mizu down on her feet.

"Where are you going?!" Mizu asked when Hiei turned around to jump back down to the alley.

"Going to get some answers. I wanna know who and why-" but he was interrupted as a black floating apparition flew up from the alleyway. "Mizu, get out of here," Hiei said as he drew his sword. Sensing that she wasn't moving, he looked behind him to see Mizu frozen in fear. "Mizu, snap out of it!!!" Suddenly, the once stationary apparition lunged towards Mizu. "Fist of the Mortal Flame!!!" But the attack went straight through the black mass like a plane would a cloud, and the thing kept it's course. Hiei raised his sword in defense when the wretched thing reared back, screaming in a piercing voice, and dove back into the alley. "What was that thing?" He asked. Not receiving an answer, Hiei turned around to look at a blue aura outlining Mizu, who was squatting with her hands and arms protectively covering her entire neck, her eyes shut tight. He dared to touch the aura with his index finger, and when he pulled it away, the tip of of finger had the same glowing effect, as well as a warm tingling feeling.

"It's gone now," he said. Slowly, Mizu got up, and as she did, the aura faded away.

"What...What was it?" Mizu asked shakily.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," he replied. He was about to jump off the edge of the building when Mizu's hand stopped him.

"Wait," Hiei looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I-I don't think you should go after it."

"Why not?"

"That thing...It was in my dream..." She said. Intrigued by the mysterious nightmare she had had that made her go running out of her hospital room and away from him, he turned around.

"What did it do?"

"It...it slit my throat," she said as she unconsciously put a hand to her neck. "I could feel the blood filling up my lungs, drowning me..."

"If you think it's going to kill me, you're sorely mistaken."

"No, that's not it."

"Then what? I don't have time to play guessing games, Mizu."

"I can't tell you..."

"Why? Why can't you tell me? It must not be so important if you 'can't' tell me."

"I can't tell you because it's too distressing...too disturbing..."

"If you won't tell me, why don't I just look for myself."

"No!!" She said, shaking her head back and forth.

"Hn," Hiei grunted. He turned around to follow after the apparition again when she stopped him again. "What!" He yelled, agitated.

"I WAS going to apologize, but if you want to be jerk about it then fine, you...you...gouzen ken gumin baka(arrogant and ignorant idiot)!!" She yelled, then she stomped off to the door that would lead to the stairs.

"Hn, ningens..." Hiei said to himself. "Why do I even bother..."

--------------------------------

Ok, I've got writer's block at this point in the story, so I'll just need to start off somewhere in the next chapter, no problem!! I hope you enjoyed, though it wasn't very exciting, in my opinion.


	11. Nothing is what it seems

Okay, so yeah, I've been busy with college and World of Warcraft, good game. Been at least a year since I've written anything of the sort, taking a Japanese class, and reading back on this story I think I could do better! Well, I mean the idea is good, but needs to be better formatted, etc etc. Anyhow, let's get back to the story shall we?

**blah **-typed

_blah _-telepathy

'blah' -thought

(blah) -translation

Farewell Butterfli   
By Ryoken

"Nosy damn Hiei...too stupid for his own good..." Mizu muttered to herself as she went down the fire-escape stairs. In a huff, she had left Hiei at the top of the skyscraper, not wanting to continue that conversation. She couldn't tell him what had happened in her dream. It was too...frightening to her to let anyone know what had happened in it, especially not Hiei. If he ever found out, Mizu didn't know what she'd do. Hell, she wouldn't even know what Hiei would do! She decided she was more afraid of what Hiei might do, of what he might think of her if he knew.

When Mizu had first started down the steps to the first floor, she had been too angry and too involved in her own thoughts to care about her surroundings. Now that she had cooled down some, she realized that being alone in the stairwell might not be such a good idea, especially after the recent attempt to kidnap her.

"Go back up and face Hiei, or continue down alone and risk being kidnapped again. Decisons, decisons..." Mizu thought outloud. Despite the fact that she didn't want to face Hiei again, she knew it would be in her best interest to have an escort, even if it was the demon who could see into her mind so easily, and without her knowledge.

Starting up the stairs, slowly, quietly, for fear of some other being, be it apparition or human, finding or hearing her, Mizu strained to hear anything that would give away her hunters. All she could hear was the sound of cars outside and the creeks and cracks of the building. She opened the door to the roof, but didn't see anything.

"H-Hiei?" She whispered. Mizu came out of the doorway to have a look around. There was no one on the rooftop with her. That meant she was on her own to get down safely. "Great," Mizu sighed. Suddenly, an icy blast of air blew tenderly on the side of her neck, like a breath. She turned her head to look and saw Hiei staring her in the face.

"GEEZ!" Mizu cried out as she flinched. "Don't do that, Hiei, you scared the crap outta me," she sighed, relieved that he wasn't the wraith-like apparition from earlier. But something in the way Hiei looked hungrily at her made her very nervous. "Uh, are you feeling...okay?" She asked, trying to steady her voice. She knew that look. She had seen it on his face only once before, but she'd never forget it. "Hiei..." Mizu started to say, backing slowly towards the door to the stairs. Before she could take another terrified step, she found her arms pinned against the very door that she was going to use to escape.

Hiei gave her a look of longing. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you," he said, removing one hand to stroke her cheek. Mizu was startled to find a piece of cloth suddenly against her mouth. Horror-stricken, she tried to get her mouth away from the cloth, but couldn't get away from it. As her surroundings began to turn dark as she became unconscious, she heard him say "finally, Reim, you'll be where you belong..."

-----------------------------------

"VT, where are you going!" Kuwabara shouted at her from down the hall.

"I'm going to find Mizu, what's it look like?" She responded, not stopping her pace towards her car, treetree, one bit.

"How? You don't have any way of tracking her!"

"Sure I do, baka boy, I've got you! You can track Hiei down, now can't you?" She said rather cooly as she started her treetree.

"No! I don't have that kind of power! Maybe Kurama or Urameshi, but not me! I can only sense stuff nearby!"

"Then that'll have to do! Get in!" She said.

----------------------------

In a matter of seconds, VT's car was screaming down the street, honking for people to get out of her way.

"Geez, at least lemme get a seatbelt on first!" Kuwabara cried.

"Look down every street and alley we come across, you got that? Don't miss any of them!" VT said, a look of great determination on her face.

"I'm lookin, I'm lookin!" He said, trying to appease her.

The two searched for half an hour before they found Yusuke and Kurama standing in an alleyway with two parked Hondas, one white, one black. VT's treetree came to a screeching halt.

"Did you find her!" VT said as she came running up to the two. They looked puzzled.

"No. Only these," Yusuke said.

"It seems the ones who took Mizu were going to change cars, so that we would have a harder time tracking them down. But something seems to have happened, as though perhaps their plan went wrong," Kurama informed them.

"Whaddya mean, something went wrong? WHERE'S MY MIZU!" VT shrieked, gripping Yusuke's shirt.

"We're working on it! We haven't got a lot to go on here, you know!" Yusuke said.

"For now, it might be best if you went home, VT, and before you say anything, it's for your own protection. We were sent here to protect you from someone dangerous, as Koenma put it, and I wouldn't be surprised if they came after you next," Kurama said.

"Absolutely not! I'm going to help you find Mizu, and that's that!" VT stated matter-of-factly. Kurama looked at Yusuke, and he nodded. "What are you doing? HEY! PUT ME DOWN!" VT shouted as Yusuke picked her up and put her over his shoulder as she kicked and hit.

"It's for your own good, VT!" Yusuke said through gritted teeth as he took the blows.

"Hn, relax, Mizu's fine," came a familiar voice.

"Hiei! You're okay!" Yusuke said, putting VT down. She gave him a final punch to his arm. "Ow!"

"Where's Mizu?"

"Right here!" Came yet another familiar voice as a red-headed young woman came from around the corner.

"MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIZUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" VT yelled as she glomped her.

"Can't...breathe..." She said, gasping for air.

"We were soooooooooooooooooo worried! What happened!" VT asked, releasing her.

"I'm not sure myself. I was going down the hall when the nurse opened the door to the alley and she shoved me into this car," she said, pointing to the black car. "Someone threw Hiei in then after me and we drove off. Then we stopped in another alley and they tried to make us go into this white Honda here. Hiei then saved the day and brought me back here!" She said.

Hiei looked at her strangely. "Saved the day?" VT asked suspicously. Mizu nodded happily. "I think maybe you better get some rest, Mizu, you don't seem well..."

"Why do you say that?"

"Cause I said so. You know, too much excitement for one day and all that."

"If you say so!" Mizu said as she cheerfully as she let herself into VT's car and waited patiently. VT took that moment to talk quietly to the others.

"You didn't bonk Mizu on the head while you were 'saving the day', did you, Hiei? Because that isn't the Mizu I know," she said.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Kuwabara piped in.

"Hn, how should I know?"

"Hiei, what happened? This...kind of cheerfulness doesn't seem like the Mizu we know," Kurama said.

Hiei shrugged. "All I did was get her out of harm's way."

"Be specific, please."

He grunted. "I took her across some buildings away from the kidnappers and an apparition appeared. It seemed to get scared or something and flew off. I turned to see Mizu with some sort of aura around her, she said it was a spirit from her dream, we fought and then she stormed off down the fire-escape. Then she came back up, and apologized and I took her back here."

"Hmm," Yusuke pondered. "Alright, let's get her back to the hospital where she can rest. Then we-"

"Might I remind you, Yusuke, that the hospital is likely swamped with police officals, and most likely newsreporters. I would suggest we head back to the Parker's. It would be much easier," Kurama said.

"I have an even better idea!" VT said. "In our backyard we have what we like to call our sanctuary. Mizu spends most of her time there after school when we aren't doing something, it'll be perfect!" They nodded. "Into the treetree getaway car!!"

"Hn, I'll take my chances on my own," Hiei said, and before anyone could protest, he was gone.

---------------------------------------

"Ohhh, wha...what happened..." Mizu said as she began to awake. She sat up and took in her surroundings. She was in a small cave, on a makeshift-bed of oddly soft leaves she'd never seen before. Next to her was a small campfire, just big enough to keep herself warm and not fill the cave with smoke. She looked into the tunnel that connected with the alcove, and saw nothing but darkness.

"And what the hell have I gotten myself into..." She asked herself. Mizu went to the tunnel to see if she could navigate her way out. To her surprise, there was a bend a short distance away, and around the corner was the exit. Outside, there was nothing but trees and an orangey-red sky. There weren't any places that Mizu knew of that had this kind of forestry in her city, even outside of the city. She could hear birds chirping and a distant river or large stream, but nothing more. She couldn't see anything else beyond the trees due to a steep slope. It didn't seem like it would be easy escaping this place.

"Reim, you're awake." She whirled around to see Hiei standing there. He smiled a smile Mizu thought she'd never see on his face. One that didn't have any callousness behind it, it was almost...happy.

"Did you hit your head on something back there, or did that reaper-thing take your sanity?" She said, trying to hide the fact that was she rather nervous.

A curious look came over him, as though he was trying to work out what she meant, but then he decided to let it go.

Seeing that he wasn't going to answer her question, she asked "Okay, I give; where are we?"

Hiei chuckled slightly. "We're in demon world," He answered, slowly making his way towards her, not taking his eyes off her.

"Ha ha," Mizu laughed nervously. "Very funny, Hiei."

"Nothing funny about it," he said, looking at her as though she was crazy.

"But...why?"

"Why not?"

"Let's start with the fact that I really don't belong here," Mizu said.

"Whatever are you talking about?" He asked, standing in front of her.

"I don't belong in demon world! Do I have to spell it out for you??"

He looked as though he wanted to tell her something, but instead, shrugged and walked passed her. "I have to take care of something. Stay in the cave, you'll be safe there."

"Um, alright..." And with that unusual happy smile, he teleported away. "What in the world is going on...?"

---------------------------------------

'Time for a little investigating,' VT thought as she prowled to the Sanctuary. Something was up with Mizu, and she was going to find out. Even though it was dark, well past sunset, VT could see her way well enough. On tiptoes, she peered around the corner. Mizu, or what looked like Mizu, was lying comfortably on the hammock, asleep no doubt. 'Good, I can catch her while she's unaware of me. She'll tell me where the real Mizu is or BOB is a liar!' VT silently crept up beside Mizu, ready to pounce when Mizu suddenly spoke, but not in her own voice.

"It's about time you came out here alone, little one," she said. The voice sounded female, but demonic and yet seductive, though it had no effect on VT. Mizu sat up and her form began to change. Her hair became slightly shorter and purple, horns grew from her head, a purple tail grew from behind, purple wings grew from her back, and a whip appeared in her hand. Not only that, but except for a few things covering vital areas, she lost the clothing she was wearing. The strange demon grinned at VT.

"YOU BE SUCCUBUS!" VT shouted aloud as she backed up a few steps. "BUT WHERE BE MIZUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU?"

"That isn't for you to know," the succubus answered. She rested the hand with the whip on her hip and took a gradual step towards VT. "Now you will be coming with me."

"I doubt that, horned witch!" VT provoked as she began running to the other side of the pond. But with her wings, the succubus merely floated over the water to catch up.

"Oh no you don't!" the demon cried as VT then began running towards the gate. She lashed with her whip and caught VT by the ankle, then with barely a flick of her wrist, VT, while trying to take another step, spun and landed flat on her face. With a growl, VT tilted her head up and leered back at the succubus. Grinning, the succubus began to drag her prize towards her as VT seemed to clutch at the grass. "Fool, you think grass is going to help you?"

"Naturally! Anything to keep me away from you, you gaishou no mesuinu kara makai." (whore bitch from hell)

Snarling, the succubus began to pull harder on the whip, making her body scrape across the ground. Suddenly, VT's body stopped in place. Thinking she had gotten a hold on something, the succubus pulled even harder on her whip, but made no more progress. She glided from her current spot to another, trying to see what the little wretch could be holding onto. Her eyes widened when she saw that the blades of grass had grown and tightly wrapped themselves around the girl's wrists.

'Hmm, this could prove very troublesome. She's already developing her powers!' The succubus thought. 'I'll have to be more careful.' Using her wings, she leapt to VT's hands and slashed at the grass. To her amazment, the grass was too thick to actually slice through with her claws.

"Fine. I'll just cut off your hands!" As the succubus gleefully raised her clawed fingers to gouge off VT's closest hand, something wrapped around her outstretched arm. As she looked back to see what had latched onto her, she gasped in dismay as the vines from the willow tree were snaking their way around her encoiled body, squeezing her like a boa constrictor. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get her arm freed to try and escape. The tree then started dragging her over to the pond and proceeded to hang her upside down.

VT stood up and brush the dirt from her clothes. "Well, that went well," she said, shaking off the succubus' whip from her leg. Sauntering, VT came to the edge of the pond and poked the trapped creature in her face repeatedly. She could tell that the poking was really getting on her nerves, so she continued for a little while longer. "Now, Lila, can I call you Lila? Would you please tell the jury where da Mizu is?" She said, tilting her head.

"Mmmph mm mmm mph mph!" The succubus tried to say, the vines covering her mouth.

"I'm sorry, but cursing will get ye nowheres!"

"Mmpph mmmm mmm mm mm mmpphh mmphh mmmph mmmmmppppphhhhhh!"

"Hmm, I sheee. Then maybe this will clear your memory!" VT yelled as the vines suddenly constricted tighter.

"Mmmmmph!"

"Is everything okay, VT, we heard-HOLY CRAP WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" Yusuke said, falling on the ground in shock. Kuwabara, Kurama, and he had just come around the corner to see what the commotion was about. VT then released the hold the branches of the willow tree had around the succubus' mouth.

"I'll never tell you anything, you wretched little brat!" She shouted, wriggling and struggling to get free.

"Sure ya will!" VT stated. Suddenly the vines grew thorns all over, and the succubus screamed in agony. "Start talkin or the vines start scarrin!"

"No! I-I can't!"

"Can't means won't!" The vines started to constrict, and the succubus wailed.

"Uh, VT? Wo-would you excuse us for a second?" Kurama stammered.

"Sure sure," she answered, not even looking back at them. The three stepped out of the garden and out of hearing range.

"WHAT THE HELL!" was all Yusuke could think of to say. The screams of the succubus continued.

"I thought these girls needed to be protected? Looks like they can protect themselves pretty gosh darned well to me!" Kuwabara said.

"I think we'd better have a talk with Botan," Kurama suggested. He looked sightly disturbed.

"Talk with me about what!" Came the bubbly voice from the sky as the said ferry girl landed gracefully next to them.

"About why these two girls need protecting when they can clearly fend for themselves," he demanded.

Botan looked surprised. "What do you mean? What's happened? And what is that awful screeching?" The three boys pointed to the gate. Tentatively, Botan looked around the hedge. "Oh my...This...this wasn't supposed to happen, not so soon!" She said coming back to them.

"What do you mean, this wasn't supposed to happen!" Yusuke said angrily.

"Their abilities weren't supposed to manifest themselves like this!!"

"And just what kind of abilities do they have?!" Kurama chimed in.

"Well, from what we were able to gather, VT can control plants, sort of like you, Kurama. But we think uh...she can...talk to them..." Kurama gave her a weird look.

"And Mizu? Wait, lemme guess, water, right?" Yusuke said.

"Yes, but we're not exactly sure what she can do with it."

"Now explain why we're here!"

"BECAUSE WE DON'T KNOW WHY OR HOW THEY GOT THESE POWERS AND THEY COULD BE VERY DANGEROUS IN THIS WORLD!!" Botan furiously yelled, hitting Yusuke with her oar. "Did you think they had these abilities this whole time?! NO!!" She hit him again for good measure, then sighed. "Now I have to go tell Koenma what's happened. You stay here and keep a close eye on VT!" She said as she flew off into the distance.

"Don't tell me we have to go back in there..." Kuwabara complained.

"I'll go first, and you two follow after, then," Kurama said.

Cautiously, Kurama peeked around the corner. He saw not only that the succubus had stopped struggling and screaming, but that VT was heading towards them, looking extremely pleased with herself.

"Attention K-mart shoppers!" She said as soon as she came out. "I've found where they be keeping the Mizu! Hey!" She said. "Where be the Short one?"

---------------------------------------------------

"My Lord, I am pleased to report that I have one of the two in my grasp," said a male voice.

"Excccccellent," a mysterious voice echoed. "And the other?"

"She is proving to be more difficult than we planned. But we will capture her soon enough."

"Gooooood. Everything isssssss falling into place. You may go; I exsspect another report in a week."

"My Lord."

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Recapping, we have a weirded-out Mizu, an even more dangerous VT, and an unknown guy who wants the girls! And what's up with Hiei? Tune in, more to come soon!


	12. Entrapment

Here comes the next one, enjoy!

**blah **-typed

_blah _-telepathy

'blah' -thought

(blah) –translation

Farewell Butterfli 

By Ryoken

"Let's go over what we know. VT, care to start?" Kurama started.

"Okie doke!" VT cleared her throat before she began. "Mizu was captured by someone. She was captured at some point between when the nurse took her out of the room and when Hiei came back with the Mizu-fake. We haven't seen or heard from Hiei since then. Da Mizu-fake tried to capture me, but I kicked her ass. Lila said that the real Mizu was bein held in demon world, in a secluded part, which doesn't really narrow it down much."

"That about sums it up, but demon world is a big place. We don't even know where to start looking," Yusuke said.

"Which is why we need to start looking as soon as possible," Botan chimed in. "Start packing your things, boys, we're heading back!"

"What about meee! I have to go too!" VT whined.

"Of course you're going, silly! How else are we going to keep an eye on you?" She winked.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" VT yelped, glomping Botan in thanks while Yusuke and Kuwabara winced. That said, VT ran off to pack her things.

"Meet back here when you're done!" Botan yelled after her. "I'm going to let Koenma know what's going on, be back soon!"

----------------------------

After running for what seemed an hour, exhaustion was starting to settle in, but that didn't stop her. Back at the cave, Mizu knew she had to escape to the others, though where they might be she had no idea. Something about Hiei's new personality didn't fit. She couldn't believe that he'd bring her all the way out to demon world for who knew what reason. Demon world! She still couldn't believe she was really here, and the fact that she hadn't run into any demons didn't lead her to believe it might be so either.

Her skin had scratches from sharp brush on her arms and legs, and a scrape on her chin and palms from tripping on unseen rocks and tree roots. She was so exhausted she didn't even hear her name being yelled from behind and the warning that followed. All of a sudden she hit a painful wall of electricity, sending what felt like a hundred thousand volts of electricity were coursing through her body. The pain was so great, and stopped so suddenly, she had no chance to scream. Before she blacked out however, a familiar looking black-haired man came into her range of view saying something she couldn't understand…

---------------------------

"What on earth did you pack, VT!" Botan asked when she saw VT's two duffle bags, jam-packed with things poking through the material.

"Oh not a lot. Some clothes, some pictures I drew, BOB-,"

"BOB?" Botan whispered to Yusuke.

"You don't wanna know," he murmured back.

"-some paper and charcoal, a few photos of me an' the Mizu, some dvds, music, some of my favorite plants, can't leave em unattended, and some special candy for me and BOB, my flute, Mizu's violin and laptop, and some other things like a toothbrush and stuff!" She said happily.

Botan sighed. "Sure, why not, never know when you'll need a flute…Anyway, let's get going. Mustn't keep wasting time! Puu and Genkai are waiting for us on the other side of the portal."

"And where is the portal this time, if I may ask?" Kurama said.

"In VT's pond. Come on!" Botan said as she took the lead. As soon as they were all gathered in the garden, Botan showed them through example by hopping into the pond and disappearing. In a matter of seconds, all five of them were outside a temple, an old woman and a blue phoenix awaiting them.

"It's about time you got here, Puu's been anxious to see you again, Lamebrain," Genkai said.

"Nice to see you too, you old hag," Yusuke said as he gave Puu a scratch behind his ears.

"Puu here is going to give you a lift so our search will be easier," Botan said. "I'll be flying around on my own and-,"

"I'll go my own way as well," Kurama said, insinuating the plant that gave him flight.

"Right! Spread out!" Botan said as she floated up on her oar, the others leaving their things at Genkai's temple.

---------------------------

"Reim…Reim…can you hear me…" Came a distant voice. Reim. Was that her name? She wasn't sure. In the darkness that surrounded her, the voice cut through it, giving her a sense of direction. She was barely able to open her eyes, but she could see that familiar looking man with the black hair. She knew that she knew him, knew his name, but what was it? He-something…

"Hee…" She tried to say, hoping he'd finish the word so that she could remember.

"Don't talk, you need your strength," he said gently. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Get some rest, Reim," he said, brushing some hair away from her face. He smiled, and it didn't seem to look right on him. But feeling quite drowsy, she fell back into the darkness.

--------------------------

"What is it, Puu? You see something?" Yusuke asked the spirit beast. Puu had suddenly stopping moving forward, hovering in the air. No matter what Yusuke tried, he couldn't get him to move. Sighing, he told Puu to put them back on the ground. "Stupid bird…" Yusuke muttered as he started walking forward. But before he could take three steps, Puu snatched him up by his shirt with his beak and plopped Yusuke on the ground, farther away from the direction he wanted to go in. Yusuke looked at him as though the beast had lost his mind.

"Maybe he can sense something we can't, Urameshi," Kuwabara suggested. "Kinda like a dog."

"Like what?"

"Obviously something dangerous!" VT said matter-of-factly. "Or else he wouldn't be preventing you from going forward!" Puu voiced his agreement with her.

Testing her theory, VT picked up a pebble and threw it in the direction Yusuke had wanted to go. After a certain point, electricity singed the rock and it fell straight to the ground.

"Okay then, now what?" Yusuke asked.

As the three pondered what they could do, VT suddenly snapped her fingers with an idea. "I've got it! Thank you, oh Masterful BOB!" She praised, looking to the sky. "You guys get some big rocks and bring em here! I've got an idea…!"

Three hours later, Yusuke and Kuwabara had gathered many rocks, most of which were as big as boulders.

"Now what?" Kuwabara asked.

"Now stack em up near the barrier in an arch!" To get her point across, she started drawing in the dirt with a nearby stick. She drew an arch to represent how the rocks should be stacked. "I think maybe if we can build em like this, it'll make a gap in the barrier once we push it in!"

"How the heck did you come up with a plan like that!" Yusuke pondered.

"Video games…" She replied. "Now start yer stackin!" She said, blowing on a whistle she seemed to get out of nowhere.

------------------------------

Hiei opened his eyes at the odd sound. A whistle? Or was he just dreaming it? But then it sounded again, this time in short bursts. He got up from his seat next to Mizu and went outside. He obviously couldn't see anything with the naked eye, so he used his Jagan eye instead. Now he knew the source of the whistle; it was Yusuke, Kuwabara, that spirit beast, Puu, and the other girl, VT. He smiled sadly. They wouldn't make it past the traps he had set to insure no one could make it to the cave, but inwardly he hoped they would.

-----------------------------

"Great, now to test it and see if it works!" VT said. She picked up another nearby pebble and threw it into the gap they had created. The pebble went straight through.

"Nice!" Kuwabara said. "Shouldn't we get Kurama?"

"No need, I'm already here," the redhead said as he landed. "I thought I sensed a strange barrier, and came as quickly as I could." He looked at the archway. "Impressive. Who thought of this?"

"VT," Yusuke and Kuwabara said. VT grinned.

"Well, what are we waiting for!" VT said. She hurriedly went through, the others following suit.

"You wait there, Puu! We might need a fast exit!" Yusuke called back. Puu just watched with knowing eyes.

"We're coming, Mizu!" VT shouted.

-----------------------------

The darkness surrounding her was beginning to fade as she slipped back into consciousness. She looked up to see the cave's ceiling. She sat up and winced. She had burns wrapped in bandages scattered over her body. There weren't many, nor were they large, but they hurt all the same. She looked to the opposite side of the alcove and saw the same familiar man with his eyes closed.

"Hee…" She started to say, but she still couldn't remember his name. However, it did grab his attention.

"Reim, you're awake," he said, opening his eyes. He smiled. The smile…something about it didn't look right, but she couldn't figure out why.

"Who…are you…?" She finally asked.

The man had a surprised look on his face. "You don't remember?" He asked. Mizu gently shook her head. He seemed to be debating something, then he smiled. "I'm Hiei. Ring any bells?" That was his name. Hiei.

"Hiieeeiii…" She said, testing out the word.

"That's right. How do you feel?"

"Have a…headache," she said, touching a hand to her forehead. Her head had been pounding since she sat up.

"Lie down. You still need some rest." She obeyed.

"What happened?"

"You ran into a special barrier. It's supposed to electrocute anything that touches it, but…I'm not quite sure how you survived, much less are conscious."

"I can't remember…anything…" She said sadly.

He smiled again. "I'll help you remember when you're feeling better," he said. He brushed some more hair away from her face and started to go back to his spot against the wall when Mizu grabbed his wrist.

"Help me remember now," she asked.

Hiei laughed a little. "I wouldn't want to injure you more than you already are," he said. Mizu gave him a confused look. "Don't worry about it, just…go back to sleep." She closed her eyes, and breathed a silent sigh of relief. 'I can't keep this up forever…'

----------------------------

"SPIRIT GUN!" Yusuke shouted as he fired his gun at the ten-foot tall skeleton that had popped out from deep within the forest. The blast hit the skeleton dead on, and he exploded into a million pieces, making it rain bone fragments. "Well, that was easy," he said. "OW! What the-," Yusuke yelped. He looked at his shoulder and saw a miniature version of the skeleton biting him. In fact, he saw a LOT of mini skeletons the size of his hand, covering him, all looking hungry.

"They're everywhere!" Kuwabara said, trying to shake off the tiny skeletons that had moments ago, been the raining bone pieces. Kurama tried to brush them off, getting the backs of his hands bitten in the process, while VT tried to grab them, throw them off, and squish them beneath her feet. Once VT had finally caught a skeleton off guard and underneath her heel, she realized that the skeleton had been ground to dust, and wasn't coming back to life.

"SQUISH THEM! They don't come back!" She shouted to them. Soon, they were all playing the part of giants, smashing the skeletons as though they were only bugs. In a matter of minutes, there was nothing but bone dust covering the ground.

"Okay, maybe we should be a little more careful..." Yusuke said.

"Yes, yes, that we should!" VT agreed, nodding rapidly.

The four companions marched on through the forest, VT marching more than the others. It wasn't long before the complaining began.

"Does anyone even know if we're going in the right direction?" Kuwabara whined.

Kurama opened his mouth to speak but was abruptly interrupted. "Of course we are, you ninny!" VT said.

"Hey, who are you calling a ninny, you short pint?"

"Now is not the time for this," Kurama said calmly as the two began a stare down.

"Kurama's right, we gotta stay foc-AHH!" Yusuke shouted as he disappeared from sight.

In front of them, two to three acres of trees began falling into a lake-sized pit filled with spikes.

"Yusuke!" Kurama said, looking over into the previously hidden pit with Yusuke hanging onto a tree root for dear life. Under the sudden weight, the tree root was beginning to rip, threatening to drop Yusuke into the dangerous pit.

"Don't worry, I'll just blast my way back up!" Yusuke grinned. He aimed his finger at the angle that would push him back up to the top and looked like he was beginning to power up when he suddenly brought his finger to his face, looking questioningly at it.

"What's the hold up, Urameshi?" Kuwabara asked, angry at being held up.

"My Spirit Gun's not working!" He shouted back up to the three.

"You gotta be kidding me!" VT said.

Yusuke tried again, but no avail. "Nope, not workin," he confirmed. The root jerked under the heavy weight once more. "Uhh, I think we need a new plan! Like now!" He said nervously.

"Can't you just push off from the wall?" Kuwabara suggested.

"I don't think putting more pressure on this root is such a good idea at the moment!" Yusuke replied.

"And the wall is too flat and sheer for him to climb out, we'll have to pull him out with something," Kurama added.

"You mind hurrying it up up there? Don't think this root can hold me much longer!"

"You guys are taking too looooooooooong!" VT whined. She took off her beanie, her master, BOB, inside, and handed the items to Kurama. "Guard him with yer life, I'm goin in!" She said. Kurama stood confused, the rubber duck and beanie in his hands. VT grabbed Kuwabara by the shirt and started to drag him to the edge of the pit.

"Hey, what do you think you're doin!" He squrimed. As they got to the edge, VT released Kuwabara.

"You are to be holding my ankles and then pulling us back up, kappesh?" She said. Before Kuwabara had a chance to answer, VT was lying on the ground, pushing herself over the edge. By the time VT could reach Yusuke, her entire body was dangling like a worm on a hook, Kuwabara grasping her ankles as best he could. Wiggling her fingers and grinning, VT reached out to Yusuke. "Grabbeth the hands!"

Yusuke returned the grin and cautiously gripped VT by the upper wrist of each arm. "Crank us up!" VT commanded. As the two were dragged up, VT's shirt started to sag and reveal more than she was aware of. Yusuke blushed and tried to avert his eyes. "What?" VT asked innocently.

After the two were pulled up and had dusted themselves off, Kurama stepped up to VT. "Here," he said, handing the hat and rubber duck back to VT.

"Tanka tanka!" She said happily, replacing the duck and beanie back on her head.

"Right..." Kurama said.

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Well, there you have it folks, yet another chapter! Two chapters in one week, what's with that? ;D Jaa ne!


	13. Out of Control

I dedicate this chapter to Commander Spork, great war hero of the Salt and Pepper Wars, now MIA. He was my right hand man. He was a great leader among sporkians. He may be lost, but not forgotten.

I also dedicate this chapter to the real-life VT, who you, the reader, should be thanking as she is the one who is always pushing me to write this story as well as helping me come up with great ideas!

**blah **-typed

_blah _-telepathy

'blah' -thought

(blah) –translation

Farewell Butterfli

By Ryoken

Mizu woke up with a start. The real world came back to her with a sudden lurch. She had been dreaming. Dreaming about Hiei, but…what? She shook the sleep from her head, and suddenly felt a renewed headache coming on that reminded her of her injuries.

Groaning, Mizu sat up and saw Hiei lying slumped sitting up against the wall, as though asleep. She went to stand up when Hiei's eyelids flew open, startling her back into sitting down.

"What's wrong?" He asked, not moving from his spot.

"Nothing. Just thought I'd walk around, clear my head," she replied.

He seemed to think about it a moment, then shook his head. "That would not be wise. You're still recovering from-"

"I'll be fine! Really! Just wanna walk around the fire a few times, geez!" She said, standing up. The rush of blood to her head made her woozy and off-balance, forcing her to sit back down.

"I told you you weren't well enough," he smirked. His gaze fell from her face to the tunnel entrance next to him. It was as though something had caught his attention.

"What is it?" Mizu asked.

"They shouldn't have made it so far…" He whispered quietly to himself. "I underestimated them."

"Who are you talking about?" She asked, concern lining her voice. He looked back at her, deep in thought. It was a few minutes before he replied.

"Our…guests," he said.

"What guests?"

He went over to her and placed a hand on her head. "I'll show you; close your eyes." She did as she was told. In an instant, her vision hovered over the forest and she could see people walking along a path. There were three boys, and a girl, all of which looked familiar, especially the girl, who was doing some sort of strange march. "These people…are coming for you," Hiei said, bringing her mind back to the cave.

"Coming for me? What for?" She asked, not sure she wanted to know.

"To take you back," he said bluntly. She seemed confused. "There's so much you need to know, that I want to tell you," he said. "But I can't. Not yet. I know this is all so very confusing, but you must believe that what I say or do is for everyone's well being. Can you give me a little faith?" Mizu looked at him curiously, wanting to know more about what he was talking about, but nodded, if not a little concerned.

Seeing the look on her face, Hiei smiled and cusped her face with his hand. "Thank you. Don't worry; I will not let any harm come to you." He hesitated a moment, wanting to do something more to comfort her, but decided against it, and left the cave.

"What the hell is going on…"

-------------------------------------------

"Oh you have GOT to be kidding me…" Yusuke said. In front of the companions, down a very serpentine and steep path, were glowing arrows. They seemed to head in the general direction that the cave at the bottom of the path was.

"Let us follow the yellow brick arrows!" VT shouted, and indeed, the glowing arrows were made from yellow bricks.

"Are you sure we should follow the arrows? I mean, they could be leading us into another trap," Kuwabara said, using the brains that got him into a university.

"Nooooo, we must follow the arroooooooooooooooooowss!" VT said again.

"This is stupid, I'm just gunna take the shortest route there, straight on through!" Yusuke declared with a grin. He started stomping confidently off in the general direction of the house.

"I suppose we should make sure he doesn't get himself into anymore trouble," Kurama sighed as he and Kuwabara followed Yusuke off the path.

"But we must follow the-" VT began to say, pouting. Torn between following her lovable companions, except for Kuwabara, in her opinion, and following the arrows, she finally made up her mind that sticking together would be for the best. "Guys, I think we're being followed…" She said. A faint _swoosh_ sound followed by a _CRASH_ ensued, and soon a rumbling sound began to draw near. When the sound became loud enough, the four could see the dangerous monster finally closing in on them: a boulder covered in grotesque spikes, pointed and fragmented teeth and bones, krises (wavy daggers), normal daggers, knives, can openers, forks, and even (gasp) the dreaded sporks.

"Whoever set these traps must've been running out of resources to be using sporks," Kuwabara said, his voice panicky as they began running straight down the hill.

"I TOLD YOU WE SHOULDA FOLLOWED DA PATH!" VT scolded as she flailed and ran.

----------------------------------

"Now where are they," Hiei thought quietly to himself. He soon heard the answer to his question in the form of yelling and a rumble. He looked to his left and saw the four teens racing by him, the boulder trap bounding down the hill after them. "Well, at least they weren't all a waste of time," he snickered. Then when he looked where the four companions were running to, the smirk was wiped off his face instantly. "Reim!"

-----------

"What in the name of Kami-sama is that noise?" Mizu pondered. She got up to go out of the tunnel when Hiei appeared in front of her. He seemed in a panic.

"We have to get out of here, NOW!" He shouted. Wasting no time, he picked her up bridal-style and barely escaped when the barreling boulder rammed straight into the mouth of the cave. The sudden impact, however, started up a whole new rumbling sound, one that came from above them. They, including the "guests" who had been running from the boulder, looked up to see an impending avalanche rushing towards them. They all scrambled to their different ideas of safe ground: a tree, ground that was further up the slope, but their ideas were all swept away in the mass of sand and rocks that crashed into the surrounding area. After a few minutes, the rumbling ended, and the scene of destruction was complete.

----------------------------------------

As the dust started settling, coughing, and a sneeze or two, could be heard from the rubble.

"Is everyone alright?" Came a calm voice, followed by a cough from the others.

"Yeah, I think so. Kuwabara? VT?" said another voice. The question was answered by two different coughs.

"Well, at least we got to the cave..." Kuwabara said. VT hit him upside the head. "Hey, what was that for!"

"MIZU WAS IN THE CAVE!" She shouted angrily. Then her face went into a thoughtful expression. "Or at least we think she is...was...whatever!" VT turned to start looking through the debris, calling out Mizu's name.

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In a different area of the rubble, something stirred. A woman in tattered jeans and a ripped shirt with bandages and new scratches emerged from a pile of pebbles, dust and sand falling off her back. She coughed a few times and wiped dust from around her eyes.

"Hiei," Mizu called out softly. She coughed some more. Crawling on hands and knees, she went through the rubble, softly calling out Hiei's name. She suddenly saw a hand wrapped in a bandage and recognized it as Hiei's. Filled with renewed worry, she fumbled over to him and pushed what rocks and debris she could off of him, but a large branch of a tree was pinning his body from the chest down. She could see that he was barely conscious.

"Hiei? Hey! Stay with me, Hiei!" She whispered harshly, trying to keep him conscious.

"They're coming…" He managed to murmur. Mizu looked over her shoulder and saw the familiar looking girl approaching. When the girl saw Mizu, she shouted behind her, alerting her associates to her whereabouts.

"Damnit. Don't die, Hiei, or I'll kill you," she said. These people…the boulder had come from the same direction as they did. Somehow they were responsible for the rockslide that had nearly killed Hiei and her!

"Well it's about time we found you, Mizu…Hey, what's with the mad face?" The one in green asked. But she didn't hear him. Something inside her had snapped, and things were about to get ugly.

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"MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIZZUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" VT screeched as she opened her arms wide and pressed forward to glomp her dear friend. But she was suddenly thrown back by an invisible force before she could close half the distance to her and went crashing into some of the rocks. As VT sat up, a look of confusion and pain crossed her face.

"What the hell? Hey, what's the deal, Mizu!" Yusuke yelled, obviously just as confused.

A sudden glow of dark blue came over her eyes, and Mizu lifted her right hand, palm facing the four. VT yelped in surprise as pain came to the surface across her left arm. She looked down and saw a thin layer of blood trickling down her arm. 'Mizu…What…What did they do to you…?' VT thought. She yelped again as more of the stings came, grazing her arms, legs, and face.

"HEY, knock it off, Mizu! That's enough!" Yusuke shouted. He was about to make a move of his own when he almost fell on his face. Surprised by his inability to move, he looked down and saw that vines had grown tightly around his ankles and were not about to let go. Kurama and Kuwabara, noticing the direction Yusuke was looking in, looked to their own feet and saw that they too had been ensnared in the plants. "If you think this is helping, VT, it isn't! Make em let us go!"

"I can't do that, Yusuke," VT said solemnly. Her hands dropped to her side and turned into fists. "Mizu isn't herself."

"Well, no duh! That's why we gotta take her down-"

"No! This is something I've got to do on my own. I don't think you'd be of too much help with something like this," she said with a sad smile.

"But-!"

"Let her do this, Yusuke," Kurama said gently. "I think I understand what it is she means to try. However, it would be wise to free us, VT."

She turned her head to glance at them, and gave them a slight grin. "And it would be unwise to have you interfere." She snapped her fingers and the plants around their feet grew into large protective nut-like shells, enveloping the three Spirit Detectives and muffling anything they said.

'Amazing…I've never seen such a thing…' Kurama awed. He tried to reach out with his spirit energy to bring out his rose whip, but he couldn't access it. 'Hmm. The same as Yusuke…What is going on around here…'

"It's just you and me now, Mizu," VT said. "What did they do to you? Why are you acting this way?" She pleaded. But her only answer was more of the stings slicing her skin.

Suddenly, water started to seep up from the rubble and float into the air surrounding Mizu. At first they were only spheres about as big as her hand. But then they all started to morph, and became floating shuriekens. VT raised her crossed arms in front of her to brace herself for the pain that was sure to come when they all started to spin and throw themselves at her. The shuriekens, sharp as they were, bore deep wounds into VT, wounds much deeper than the grazing stings had left. Some of the shuriekens further opened the wounds made by the grazes, others did grazing of their own, and some stuck themselves deep into VT's blocking arms and legs, sticking out of them like thorns. Her clothes had many rips and tears and blood was soaking through.

Fearing for BOB's safety, VT threw her beanie with the rubber duck inside to the side near some debris. It was fortunate that she picked that moment because no sooner did she do so, a coil of water, solidified enough to pick up objects, wrapped itself around her middle, pinning her arms. The coil, which had been summoned straight out of the ground behind VT, lifted her high into the air. It kept her there for a few moments, giving VT a decent view of her surroundings and the debris below her, until the coil began throwing her into the rocks, crashing through plaster and wood, breaking her bones and tearing flesh. By the time the coil had dragged her through most of the debris, VT was a bloodied mess, but alive.

"Please…don't do this…Mizu…" She pleaded. But Mizu couldn't hear her words. The coil slightly unwrapped itself from VT and hung her in front of Mizu, who hadn't taken a step since the battle had begun. Mizu then changed tactics. Instead of using the water at her disposal, she simply began punching and kicking VT in the face, the stomach, the side, with no emotion in her expression. Her glowing eyes flared fiercely with each hit that she made.

"Damnit, Reim...you have to stop…" Hiei murmured, watching the entire battle from where he was pinned. 'She mustn't die…'

'I mustn't…I can't keep control…anymore…what IS this…!' VT thought as her power threatened to take control over her body. It suddenly became too much for her mind to handle and the power surged forth. Just as Mizu's eyes glowed a dark blue, VT's eyes blazed a dark green.

Caught off guard, Mizu jumped back from VT, preparing herself for an attack. From behind VT, large thorny plants quickly grew from the ground and the poisonous thorns shot out from the stalks towards Mizu. But what VT hadn't seen were a pair of hands made from water rising up from behind the stalks to choke the remaining life out from her. Mizu began to dodge the thorns, but they were attuned to her own energy signature and nothing but a direct hit would stop them.

'NO!' VT thought. Re-restraining her bubbling powers that yearned to protect itself and therefore returning her eyes to normal, VT ran to the left, where Mizu was standing, about to dodge, and shoved her out of the way of the thorns just as they were coming to ingrain themselves into Mizu. At the same time, the hands caught VT by the throat and lifted her off the ground, choking her, as were their instructions.

'She…saved me…?' Mizu thought.

Weakened by the earlier attacks, VT barely managed to raise her hands to her throat. Out of instinct for survival, she tried with what little energy she had left to pry the hands off of her, but it was no use. In a matter of moments, VT's consciousness faded and her hands dropped lifelessly to her sides.

The glow of Mizu's power in her eyes vanished, and the watery hands that had been choking VT plopped to rocks and splattered back into a puddle beneath the wreakage, dropping VT to the ground like a rag doll. Mizu, released of the strange powers that had possessed her, fell to her hands and knees, confusion set in her eyes.

Suddenly, the strange plants enshrouding the three boys withered like a rose and dissipated into the soil, freeing them. Seeing their comrade beaten to a bloody pulp, they raced to her limp form, calling out to her.

---------------------------------

Mizu's gaze stared hard into the dirt in front of her. Why. If these people had intended to harm them, why weren't they doing so? Had she assumed too much about their connection to the boulder? She raised her head and looked at the three gathered around the limp form. Mizu slowly got up from the ground and started to cautiously approach them. The one in the green suit spun around to face her, a death glare plastered on his face. The boy came up to her and gripped her by the shoulders.

"What the fuck, Mizu! She was your best friend!" He shouted, shaking her.

"My…friend…?"

"YES! What the hell is the matter with you!"

"Who…Who are you people…?" Mizu looked up into his eyes as tears began to flow down her cheek, confused and alone.

The tears defeating him, the boy couldn't keep that angry look on his face. He put an arm around her shoulders and led her to the others. "I'll explain on the way back to human world." He seemed to suddenly recall something. "Oh hey, you wouldn't happen to know where that damn Hiei is, would you?"

"Oh god, I forgot!" Horrified, Mizu ran through the debris to the tree she had seen Hiei lying under, the boy in green and the one in blue following hastily. He was conscious, but just barely, and wearing a painful scowl on his face. He looked up at Mizu, not saying a word, but looking as though he was disappointed in her.

The boy in green bent down from the waist and sniffed once or twice. Then a maniacal grin overtook him. "Well, well, if it isn't a demon in a demon! How quaint," he said, chuckling. "Must be a parasite demon!" He took off his jacket and handed it to Mizu. "Take that over to VT, I'm sure she's gunna need it."

The name struck a chord in Mizu's memory. She nodded slowly and hurried to where the boy in the pinkish suit was trying and failing to heal her injuries.

-----------------------------------------

Hiei grinned. "Do either of you really think you can defeat me without any of your spirit energy, let alone while I'm in this demon's body?" His voice had melded into that of the parasite and Hiei speaking at the same time.

"Considering your own predicament, I think it shouldn't be too difficult," Yusuke replied.

Hiei grinned and laughed. "Then why don't you try to defeat me in my true form!" His laugh became obstructed as something was working it's way up his throat. Suddenly, hundreds of black and gray-colored butterflies that had wings with jagged edges flew from his throat. Once the last had gone from him, Hiei's eyes rolled back in his head and became unconscious. The butterflies in their flock swirled in a tornado-like fashion and, like a vampire with bats, formed a humanoid body.

The strange demon stood a head above Yusuke with silver hair that was gathered in a loose ponytail that came to the small of his back. He wore a black tank top and a black trench coat that was cut into jagged strips at the bottom. His pants were a dark gray and wore leather boots that came up just below his knees. His skin was pale, his ears pointed, his nails sharpened, and he had large black and gray translucent fairy-like wings with the same jagged feature, on his back. And of course he had the common pointed fangs.

The demon smiled confidently, baring his fangs. "Come then, show me how I will be so easily defeated," he said softly.

"I'll take him! SPIRIT SWORD!" Kuwabara shouted. But the sword didn't form. "What the-!"

The demon laughed at Kuwabara's stupidity. "I did say that you couldn't use your spirit energy, now didn't I?"

"How the hell did you do tha-!" Yusuke began to ask when the demon suddenly lurched forward and punched the two in their stomachs, sending them flying into the rubble.

"Now then…"

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"Will…Will she be alright?" Mizu asked the boy who told her his name was Kurama.

"If we can get her out of demon world as soon as possible, she might stand a good chance, but-" Kurama was saying as he was suddenly hit out of nowhere into some nearby rubble. Mizu looked up to see a strange-looking figure towering over her as he took hold of her lower wrist and gently but swiftly pulled her to her feet.

"Reim," Mizu's eyes opened wide in surprise at the name coming from this stranger. "I know you don't recognize me, but I hope you will remember what I asked of you," he said. Then he looked very sad at her. "Forgive me." He suddenly picked her up by what was left of the collar of her shirt. "I'll make this as painless as possible." He then retracted his arm back and threw Mizu like a rag doll into a nearby pile of rocks.

Mizu could only see blurs as he knelt down beside VT and took up her hand. He placed one of his hands on top of hers and began chanting unintelligible words. She wanted to stop him, but she couldn't move her legs. She heard a shout from the right and when the demon turned around, he changed into the flock of strange butterflies and took off. The boy in green and the one in blue came from around the corner and began coming to her, but Mizu could see nothing but darkness as she passed out from the pain throbbing in the back of her head.

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Okay, that's it! Read and review! The next chapter's gunna be a bit more uplifting and funny!


	14. Dance the Rest of Your Life Away

New chapter, woot woot! And Ayeri is pronounced Ah-year-ee. WEASEL WAR DANCE FTW! (wishes ferrets weren't illegal in California) Also, the song that is sang is called Rock Me by Liz Phair.

Disclaimer: I own Mizu, Ayeri, Mystery-Demon-X(Not gunna spoil it for you!! P)...and this story...that's about it...

Farewell Butterfli

By Ryoken

Mizu awoke with a start. She sat up to take in her surroundings, but a throbbing headache soon forced her to lie back down. So she took in her surroundings lying down instead. She could hear birds chirping and the wind blowing. She was lying in a room similar to that of some sort of Japanese home, although it was something a little more oriental; wooden walls with traditional sliding paper doors, a mat for a bed on the floor where she lay, a dresser, and a low table with some bandages on it and a small yet familiar device. It was one of the translators that Yusuke and Kuwabra wore while they went to school with her, short as their stay was.

Curiosity settling in, Mizu slowly sat up, hoping that getting up slower wouldn't cause nearly as much pain to her head as the last time. It didn't. Mizu took the translator in her hand and looked at it. She wondered if it worked the other way as well. Figuring that it couldn't hurt to try, she put it in her ear. She started to stand up and found that she wasn't in her shredded clothes anymore. She was wearing some skin-tight white shorts and an open white robe with oriental pink flowers on it that stopped at her knees and she was covered up in bandages that wrapped her up from her bellybutton to her upper chest.

She started making her way to the door when a strange shadow quickly passed by the paper in the door. Mizu froze when the door started to inch it's way open. Suddenly, a small rodent-like head with light blue tipped ears poked its head inside, looking around. Seeing Mizu standing there, it seemed to make a happy squeak and squeezed the rest of it's body inside. Before her sat a ferret; the most unusual she had ever seen. It was white, with the same light blue color rings wrapped around it's fur, but didn't have the common mask that some ferrets have.

"Well aren't you the cutest little fuzzie I've ever seen," Mizu whispered, smiling. She knelt down slowly so as not to frighten the little guy, but he merely took the opportunity to climb up onto her shoulder and hide under her hair on her neck before she could grab him. Mizu stood up again. "Okay, fine," she said as the ferret snuggled up against her. "Just don't go blaming me if you fall out."

Continuing on her quest of discovery, she finally opened the door and gasped as she walked out onto the wrap-around porch. She realized she knew exactly where she was: Genkai's temple. And she remembered. Boy, did she remember. She recalled now who she was and her past. With a slight giggle, she looked up in the sky to see if she could glimpse Jin flying around, but, as expected, saw nothing.

"I see you're up and about already; that's good," came a voice from behind. Mizu spun around to see Kurama coming towards her from around the corner.

She flashed him a smile. "Yeah. Hey, have you seen this guy hanging around here before," she asked him, lifting some hair off of her neck to reveal the strange critter snoozing. Kurama shook his head.

"I've never seen a ferret before, but I'm pretty sure they don't come in that color," he said. "Where did you find him?"

"He found me. Came into my room and just nestled himself in my hair as if he owned it!" She huffed, giving him a poke. The ferret opened an eye at Kurama and blinked. Kurama laughed.

"Then I suppose you should give him a name," he suggested.

"You really think he's gunna stick around?"

He shrugged. "Maybe."

Mizu contorted her face to look deep in thought.

"AYERI!" She shouted. The ferret, startled by the sudden loud sound, started to bristle against Mizu's neck and soon the two could smell something similar to a skunk. "Aww, man, Ayeri! Did you have to do that!" Mizu said, pinching her nose, Kurama doing the same.

"I'm going to go check on VT; you should probably go and try to get that smell out," he chuckled, hustling back around the corner, but not before pointing her in the direction of the bath.

"Come on, you, you're the one who started this whole thing, so you're getting a bath too," she said, dragging him out from his hiding place and holding the fuzzie firmly in her arms.

As she was going along, a blue haired young girl clad in a light blue kimono rounded the corner. At first she smiled and was about to greet Mizu when she screwed up her face from the stench and pinched her own nose. In answer to Yukina's unasked question, she pointed down at the criminal and waved quickly as she hurried onward.

After scrubbing for what felt like a half an hour on herself and ten minutes on Ayeri to get rid of what stench she could, Mizu rewrapped herself with the bandages and put her clothes back on. Ayeri decidedly planted himself in her hair once again and fell asleep. As she looked down at her job of bandaging herself, she noted that it wasn't nearly as good as when someone else had done it, whoever that was, and tied the robe closed.

She decided that she should probably go visit VT. Knowing that she had done potentially lethal damage to her best friend, the least she could do was say hello and apologize for her actions. But as she wandered around on the porch, looking for something that might give her a clue as to her location, she became decidedly lost.

Fortunately for her, Yusuke came to the rescue.

"Lost?" He asked, smiling that stupid grin of his.

"Kinda, yeah."

"I guess I can see how it could be a bit confusing for someone new here. What're you looking for?"

"VT's room. Wanted to drop in."

Yusuke's grin faded. "Oh. Well, it's right behind you, actually." Mizu sweatdropped.

"Are you freakin kidding me?"

"No." Mizu sighed. She did a 180, and quietly opened the door, Yusuke right behind her.

The sight was horrible. VT was hardly recognizable; it wasn't that the wounds had mangled her face, but that bandages had covered up most of her head, which was the only body part that wasn't covered by a blanket. Yukina and Kurama were on either side of her, doing what they could to help her wounds heal. Hearing the door open, the both of them looked up to see the bewildered Mizu and Yusuke in the doorway.

"Yukina, would you take over for a moment?" Kurama asked.

"Sure."

Kurama stood and came up to Mizu, placing a hand on her shoulder. Mizu seemed to not notice as she stared blankly at her dear friend.

"Come on, Mizu, let's get you some tea, alright?" He suggested gently. "Yusuke, would you…?"

"Yup," he answered. Taking a hold on Mizu's shoulder, he led her away from the room , but she never took her eyes off of VT until Kurama shut the door.

-----------------------------------

"…If it weren't for VT loosing control, she'd probably be dead, Lord Koenma!" a familiar bubbly voice shouted from the room in front of her. "How can you even think of doing such a thing! They saved her life!"

"That may be, but think of what's at stake, Botan. We can't let a couple of girls like these run around freely. Especially since they have no real control over them."

Yusuke looked at Mizu, who was leaning on his shoulder; the color had drained from her face. "You know, I'm all for eavesdropping," he whispered. "But I really don't think this is what you need to be hearing right about now."

Suddenly the door in front of them opened and Genkai stood there. She sighed. "I'm guessing you heard that." Mizu could do no more than stare at the ground. If it weren't for VT…loosing control…? "Well, don't just stand there looking stupid, Dimwit, get her inside."

Yusuke grimaced at the old woman as he sat Mizu down at the low table.

"I apologize for what you overheard, no thanks to Yusuke, here-" Koenma said.

"Hey!"

"But please don't take it the wrong way; having lost your memory and being told lies from this peculiar demon, it wasn't your fault."

Mizu stayed silent for a moment as she stared at her teacup. "If you don't mind, I think I'd like to go back to my room now."

"Of course, Mizu!" Botan said. As the two left, Yusuke shut the door behind them.

"Now what the hell was all THAT about?" He asked.

Koenma, in his teenage form, sighed heavily. "We were discussing our options as to what to do with the girls. They can't stay here in Ningenkai; they're a threat to the population. But we can't really send them into demon world either," he said before Yusuke could argue. "Because they'd be slaughtered before they knew how to defend themselves. Their...powers..." he said, choosing his words carefully. "Are far too unpredictable…I hate to say it, but I think the best course of action is to..."

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"Here we are, Mizu!" Botan said as they got back to her room. "If you need anything, please just let one of us know, alright?"

"Botan."

"Yes?"

Mizu lifted her hair and yanked the sleeping ferret from his perch. She handed him to Botan.

"Would you…look after him for a little while…for me?" She said.

"Sure, I guess…" She said, looking over the strange colored ferret sleeping in her arms.

"His name's Ayeri," she said. "Thanks."

As Botan walked away, Mizu shut the door and looked around her room. "Time to get the hell out of Dodge."

Mizu opened the drawers in her dresser and found some of her own clothes packed neatly away. Throwing them on floor, she picked out a spaghetti strap shirt and some jeans with a butterfly stitched into one of the pant legs. She looked in another drawer and found her precious bandana, blue with a Pegasus on top, and tied the bandana on her head. She changed into the clothes and carefully opened her door, not wanting to alert anyone nearby. Seeing that the coast was clear, she quietly ran to the stairs leading down the mountain and was gone.

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"VT! You're awake?" Kurama said, surprised as VT sat straight up, eyes wide and alert. "Lie down, you're in no condition to even be sitting up right now!"

"Mizu's gone," she said bluntly, not lying back down.

"What are you talking about? She just left to go have some tea and relax."

"Mizu is gone! What part of that don't you understand!" She said, getting up without loosing her balance. Determined to find Mizu and battling against Kurama's physical attempts to get her to lie back down and Yukina's insistent urgings, VT forced her way in the general direction of Mizu's room. On her way there, she ran into Botan holding the blue and white ferret.

"VT!" Botan said, startled at seeing the teen up and about. "What are you doing walking around! You should be in bed!"

Hearing the shouting awoke Ayeri. He looked at VT momentarily and then jumped out of Botan's arms, running to Mizu's room to tuck himself back into his niche in her hair.

"Oh, come back here, you rascal!" Botan shouted, running after him.

"What's that?" VT asked Kurama as they hurried to catch up to Botan.

"Ayeri, Mizu-" But he was cut off by Botan yelling again.

"SHE'S GONE!"

Kurama looked at VT, who only glared coolly at him. "How did you-"

"I TOLD you Mizu was gone. Now we gotta find her!" VT said, hurrying back to her own room to get her beanie and BOB.

As VT was about to turn a corner, she got the feeling of being watched. She pounded on the wall next to her and yelled. "Hiei, get your Jagan eye butt down here!" She said, and kept moving.

The fire demon suddenly appeared to the side of VT's room, out of her path. He had some minor cuts and bruises, nothing Yukina or Kurama couldn't heal, but something else seemed wrong with him. VT passed him by as she went to fetch her things, but as soon as she came out she looked him square in the eye.

"Come help us find Mizu, Hiei," she said.

"If you think barking orders is going to make me do anything, you're-"

"Please," she said. The stern look wasn't about to leave her face. Hiei turned away.

"Hn, why should I?"

VT sighed. "I know you're upset about what happened," she said quietly. "But that wasn't something you had control over. Besides, Mizu would probably appreciate you coming along to help," she said.

Hiei raised an eyebrow. "Hn," was all he said before doing his disappearing act.

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Mizu had incredible luck that day. Just as she had reached the bottom of the stairs of Genkai's temple, the bus that would take her into the city arrived and she paid the driver and sat down. As she stared at her hands, she started pondering.

'What the hell am I?', 'Why me?', 'The hell is going on?', 'What am I going to do now?' were only a few of the questions that ran through her mind as the bus ran along it's designated path.

It was near 10:00 PM when the bus reached the city, and Mizu decided it was as good a place to start as any. She got off the bus and stepped into a heavy rain. Unsure of what to do, she merely started walking towards the inner part of the city, not really aware of the biting cold.

From a doorway she passed, she felt tons of warmth as well as music playing. She turned her head and saw she was in front of a dance club. Because it was raining, there were no people waiting in line, so Mizu decided to slip in and check it out. She was blasted with hot air from the amount of heat all the people dancing were giving off as she entered and took off her shoes.

Inside, many people were crowded on the dance floor, colored lights moving and flashing all about, proving the only light source. Up front was a stage where a DJ was playing music and a girl was singing karaoke. To the right was a long table with plenty of plastic cups and kegs of beer. Upon seeing the people lined up for the kegs, Mizu assumed that this was a rave. She saw a chair near the back and decided to sit down for a bit and dry off.

"Hey!" A boy of about 17 said as he came up to Mizu. He had black spiky hair and wore sunglasses on top of his head. She looked up at him from her inner thoughts. "What's a pretty girl like you doing all by herself?" He asked politely.

"Er…Just, uh, relaxing," she said, glad for the fact that the translator worked.

"Here," he said, handing her a cup full of beer. She looked at it timidly. She'd never tried the stuff before, but then again, she'd never been around it before either. "I've had better, myself, but it's not bad," he commented.

'Ahh screw it. This might be one of the last nights I'm in the human realm anyway,' she thought as she sighed and took a large gulp. It had a very bitter taste to it and she screwed up her face.

The boy laughed. "I didn't think it was that bad!" Mizu took another sip. "Come dance with me!" He asked. Mizu looked for a place to set down her cup and decided on the floor under her chair, then let him lead her out onto the floor. "So, what's your name? Or should I keep calling you pretty girl?" He smiled.

Mizu smiled back. "Name's Mizu. You?"

"Satomi!" He shouted over the music that was blaring.

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"Considering how large the city is, I think you should bring them along," Koenma said.

"Are you sure that's such a good idea, Koenma?" Kurama said.

"Just bring em already! We're losing valuable time here!" VT said stubbornly.

"Yeah, what harm could they do?" Yusuke said, ending the argument. "Hey guys, let's get going!" He shouted behind him.

"Awlright! Finally, we get te go into the city, mates!" Chuu said ecstatically.

"Please don't forget what you're supposed to be doing in there, you six. Find the girl and get your asses back here immediately," Koenma repeated.

"Keep yer diapers on, well be in an outta there before ye can say 'May ye be in heaven half an hour a'fore the devil knows yer dead!'" Jin said.

As they all left, Koenma began having his doubts about sending those other six into the city.

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As they all reached the city, they split into pairs. Jin was with Touya, Chuu with Rinku, Suzuka with Shishi, Kurama with Kuwabara, and Yusuke with VT. Despite Kurama's insistent urgings for her to slow down because of her wounds, VT never stopped quickly walking through the streets looking for Mizu.

Hiei, however, looked on his own. He could search the city faster than anyone using his Jagan, and though it proved tricky because of all the consciousnesses squished together in one place, he finally found Mizu in a large building and reached out to her with his mind.

_Mizu!_ He shouted as she was dancing. It was so clear in her mind, Mizu thought she had heard her name being called out loud instead of hearing it in her head, which caused her to look to the doors.

"What's wrong?" Satomi asked, seeing her stop.

"I thought I heard someone calling my name, but I guess it was just my imagination," she replied.

Hiei tried speaking in her mind again, but she seemed to be ignoring him somehow. He sighed and decided to go and talk to her in person.

As he reached the doors with his super-human speed, he found that VT and Yusuke were only about three buildings width away from him. He looked at them and nodded his head towards the doors. Once at the doors, they too could clearly hear the loud music being played inside.

"She's in here?" Yusuke asked. Hiei nodded. "Then let's go."

They opened the doors and were immediately hit with a blast of hot air. Hiei looked to where he sensed Mizu was and immediately blushed. She was dancing with some black-haired boy in a rather provocative manner and one of the straps of her shirt had fallen down, not to mention she was swaying off-balance at times.

"Where is-" VT started to say when she and Yusuke spotted Mizu as well. VT's jaw dropped while Yusuke grinned and blushed.

"She's, uh…" Yusuke tried to say.

"She's DRUNK!" VT almost shouted. The two boys looked at her strangely. "Well, she is."

"Not what I was gunna say, but alright," Yusuke said. "Well, go get her, Hiei!" He said as he and VT gave him a sudden shove.

Hiei glared at them. "Why do I have to get her?!" He asked suspiciously.

"Because!" VT said.

"That's not an answer."

"Too bad!"

Hiei glared at her some more, but it didn't deter her resolve. He sighed and started to go up to her, blushing the entire way and feeling like a fool. Before he got to her, she ran off to the stage, startling not only Hiei, but the boy as well. Now Hiei was starting to get annoyed; he just wanted to get out of this weird place. The boy that she had been dancing with followed her towards the stage. Seeing this, Hiei pushed his own way through the crowd, making more progress than the boy, but found he was a little late in grabbing her when she jumped on the stage and grabbed the microphone.

"Oh baby, you're young, but that's okay. What's give or take nine years anyway? I'll bet you that cigarette, you won't regret my time!" Mizu started singing as she started dancing on stage. "I wanna be with a guy like you, so uncomplicated, so in tune! Just take off my dress, let's mess with everybody's mind. I gotta tell you! Baby, baby, baby, if its alriiiiiiiiight, want you to rock me aaaaall night! Baby, baby, if its alriiiiiiight, want you to rock me aaaaall night, all night, yeah! Rock! Me! All! Night!" She sang. "Heeeyaaaaaaaa yeaa! Heeeyaaaaaaaaa yeaa! I wanna play Xbox on your floor, say hi to your roommate who's next door, you don't have a dime, but I don't mind, who gives a damn? Your record collection don't exist, you don't even know who Liz Phair is!" She sang, pointing to herself. "Pure potential with no credentials, your mama taught you how to be a sensitive man!" She continued singing, and spotting Hiei in the crowd, she pointed at him. "I gotta tell you! Baby, baby, baby, if its alriiiiiiiiiiiiight, want you to rock me aaaall night, baby baby if its alriiiiiiiiiiiight, want you to rock me aaaaall night, all night…"

Because she had pointed at him at such a short distance, some of the people there turned to look at him. Feeling humiliated, he made his way directly in front of the stage and gave Mizu a death glare, which she didn't even notice. Even more annoyed now, he jumped up on stage, grabbed her by the arm and started to drag her off stage, seeing as she was still trying to sing into the microphone, which she was dragging along with her. The DJ then came over and forced the microphone out of her hands, putting it back in it's place.

"Get up, Mizu, we're going back to the temple," Hiei ordered, who was not in the mood for Mizu's drunken antics as she continued singing from the floor.

"Hey, what's your problem?" Came a voice. It was the black-haired boy.

"Stay out of this," Hiei said as he continued to try to drag her as well as get her to stand up.

The boy grinned and snapped his fingers. Two large and muscular bouncers came from the shadows.

"Yes, boss?" One of them asked.

"Throw this troublemaker out, will you?" He ordered.

One of the bouncer made to grab Hiei, but he was too fast, and knocked him flat. However, the second one came up from behind in surprise and caught him. No matter how hard Hiei struggled to get free, he found it surprising that he couldn't get free.

"Hey, what're you doin, Shatomi?" Mizu asked as she got up, her words starting to slur.

"Just getting rid of the riffraff," he said slyly as the bouncer made for the door.

"Riffraff? Hiei's not a riffraff!" She argued.

"No? I don't think he enjoyed your singing very much."

"So? That don't make him a riffleraffle!"

Satomi chuckled. "That kid? He's just trying to make trouble, forget about him!"

Ignoring him, Mizu ran up to the bouncer and started kicking his foot. "Put! Him! Down!" The kicking wasn't doing much good, especially once the other bouncer picked up Mizu, who started flailing.

"Eh, throw em both out, she wasn't that pretty anyway," he said, turning his back to his guards. As the guards left to throw the two of them out the backdoor, Satomi came face to face with Yusuke Urameshi and VT. A very angry Yusuke Urameshi and VT.

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"Get off of me!" Hiei yelled furiously as he struggled to get out from under Mizu and the mud he was now covered in. Not wanting to piss him off more, she pushed herself off and onto her side in the mud. He quickly stood up and looked himself over, then growled at Mizu. Then he took out his katana and pointed it at Mizu's throat. "I… should kill you…for that humiliation."

"So why don't you?" She asked, exposing her throat for him. Hiei raised an eyebrow. "Well, what are you waitin for?" She stumbled as she stood up and roughly took the end of the blade in hand and placed it at the right side of her throat. "Death is probably gunna be better than where ever the freakin hell Koenma's gunna send us!!!" She asked, then placing it over her heart. Her hand was bleeding.

Hiei sighed quietly. He gently removed the sword from Mizu's hand and replaced it in it's scabbard. Before Hiei could say anything further however, Mizu stormed off in the direction of the street. "Why do I even bother," he muttered as a satisfied Yusuke came out the backdoor giving VT a piggyback ride, who was exhausted to the point of passing out.

"Hey, Mizu, wait up!" Yusuke shouted after her as he jogged to catch up with her. "You dropped this," he said handing her a charm bracelet. It had the kanji for water on it.

Puzzled, Mizu said, "this isn't mine," and handed it back to Yusuke.

"You sure? VT had it in her hand when she dropped it backstage. See, she even has one just like it," he said, holding up a limp arm. Indeed it was quite like the water charm, except this one had the kanji for tree.

Mizu quietly took the charm back and put it on her wrist. "You're right, Yusuke. It is mine." She stared hard at the sleeping VT, and nodded slightly in understanding. The trinket was meant to tell Mizu that there were no hard feelings about what had happened in Makai, and that she needn't feel the need to stay away.

"You alright?" Yusuke asked. Mizu nodded with a smile. "Then let's get back to the temple!"

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Seeing as this particular part got so long, I'm postponing the funny part until the next chapter. Until then!


	15. It's Time to Partay!

Yay, we're finally at the part that's gunna be hilarious, woot woot! It gets a little sappy at times, but they're relatively short.:D Oh, and the word Yoko uses at the end that doesn't make sense is slippers XD I'm not good at describing dance moves

Disclaimer: Read it in previous chapters, they apply to this and all further chapters that are written. Thank ya.

Farewell Butterfli

By Ryoken

Yukina and Kurama stayed up half the night, tending to the reopened wounds VT got for going with them into the city, then spent the rest of that morning healing the other wounds VT had. By that afternoon, the two were a bit exhausted, but at least VT was able to move about on her own.

Mizu woke up the next morning with a slight headache, not being used to consuming alcohol, despite it being so little. Feeling a bit embarassed about her escapade into the city, she decidedly stayed in her room until Botan came knocking on her door. She seemed in higher spirits than yesterday.

"Hello, Mizu. How are you feeling today?" She asked, sitting across from her.

"Better with the addition of a slight headache. What's up?"

"Koenma's decided what exactly to do with you two," she smiled.

"Why do I feel like I'm not going to be too thrilled about this?" She said, squeezing her eyes shut tight.

"You're going home."

Mizu opened an eye wide. "Beg pardon?"

"You. Are. Going. Home!!" She laughed.

Mizu was speechless. She wasn't sure if she should be happy to be going home or frustrated with the further confusion that was being fed into her head.

"Don't worry, Yusuke and the others will be sent back with you. Koenma thought the only place that would be safe for you would be in your own world. There's plenty of things that could go wrong if you stayed here, and that's the last thing we want, right?!" She said cheerily.

"Even though if we stayed here, we'd have twice as many people protecting us?" She said, confused.

"Are you kidding me? Those demons aren't exactly known for their good decision-making skills," she said.

'Is that right,' Mizu thought fiendishly as a plan formulated in her mind. She excused herself as getting something to eat, to which Botan pointed her in the right direction as she went off to tell VT her news. Though Mizu went there first to see who was there, she inevitably wandered off to different parts of the temple in search of a certain red-headed wind master.

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"A party?! That's a great idea, Jin!" Yusuke exclaimed.

"Sounds like fun," Kurama chimed in, looking up from reading his novel.

"Aye, we-ow!" as Mizu discreetly elbowed him "- I, thought it'd be a good idea, a sort of send-off party, I says," Jin said, a goofy grin on his face.

"I couldn't agree more! When?" Yusuke asked.

"Tonight when the sun's gone down!" Jin said. "Mizu and I'll be back here with the goods before ya know it!" With a sudden grab of her wrist and a yelp, the two were gone from the room before anyone could protest. "Oh! One last thing!" Jin said, popping his head back in. "Don't be lettin' ol' Genkai know; I'm for thinkin she'd not be happy about it an' all! Bye!"

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"So, might'n a bloke ask why I'm takin' all the credit for this scheme of yours?" Jin asked.

"To be honest, I didn't think anyone would want to if they knew it was all my idea. Craziness and all, you know," she answered, dismissing it with a wave of her hand. "Now how can we…" Mizu snapped her fingers as a bright idea came to her. "Chuu'll know how to take care of our dilemma!"

"Er, what dilemma?"

"The alcohol dilemma, what else?" She answered as she started in the direction of where the booze-brawling fighter might be.

"Oh…Hey, wait a minute, lass, you can't be old enough fer that!" He objected.

She stopped and looked at him. "Since when did you sign onto the moral police squad?"

Jin clicked his tongue. "I'm fer thinking Genkai won't like this one bit."

"Genkai isn't going to be informed…unless of course you're going to play the part of goody-two shoes and tell on me like a five-year-old school boy," she teased.

"Goody-two shoes?! I'll be havin' ya know that mischief is me middle name!"

"Glad to hear it!" She said, draping her arm around him in a buddy-like fashion. "Now let's go find Chuu, shall we?"

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And so the day went on, everyone letting everyone else know, save for Genkai, who most certainly would not approve the use of her temple as a staging area for a raucous party. Fortunately for them, there was a relatively unused room at the edges of the temple where it could be hosted. Soon enough, all invited were gathered and the only ones who didn't show up were the other girls and Koenma, who was of course busy.

As the group sat on couches that were moved temporarily from Genkai's living room, as well as the floor, Chuu came in with a face that said he was already quite wasted.

"Well, at least he didn't drink it all," Mizu remarked, as she looked on from the doorway. She was wearing a dirty-pink colored sweater with a stretched out collar over her favorite blue spaghetti strap shirt to ward off the chilly night air. After getting Chuu to set the booze on a fold out table, Mizu examined the bottles of hard liquor he'd gotten. "Uh, Jin?" She said a little nervously. "Is this stuff from demon world??"

"I'd be imaginin' so. Stuff from around here doesn't seem to affect the bloke much, he says. This stuff has a real kick to it," he said, a grin and a chuckle plastered to his face.

"Ha ha," Mizu laughed weakly. 'Oh man, this is gunna be one hell of a party,' she thought.

Jin rummaged through the bag Chuu had brought and produced five shot glasses. "At least he remembered these! What'dya say, Mizu, a toast to the brilliant lass who came up with this bright idea?" He said, already pouring alcohol from a dark red glass bottle.

"Oh I don't know, Jin, this early on?" Mizu said, hesitant about pouring this foreign red liquid down her throat.

"Never too early, I say!" He said, handing her the shot glass and taking up his.

"Oh well," she mumbled. She tossed back her head as she drank, to minimize actually tasting the vile substance. Though they were her best efforts, the bad taste still managed to singe her tongue. "Oh man, that stuff was vile! Do I even wanna know what it was?"

"I'd be doubting it," he replied. A concerned grin came over him. "You may be wantin' to sit down after that, you're sure'n to be spinnin' goin 'whee' you will, not wantin ya to crash into something on yer first go 'round!"

"Okaaay…" Mizu said, not really feeling any effects of the drink. That is, until she sat down on the floor. The room started to spin and she began getting dizzy. Then the room suddenly stopped spinning, but she began leaning over, her balance trying to catch up with her vision.

"You up for a game of 'Truth or Dare: Spin the Bottle,' Mizu?" VT asked, that 'I have evil plans in the works' grin on her face. She nodded a little too enthusiastically as Jin tossed a beer to everyone, save VT, who passed, and Rinku, who was too young. "Kay! Rules are: no doing the same dare twice, and no matter what you choose, you gotta do it, or you'll have to do something worse!" She announced. She spun it, and it slowed to a stop on Kuwabara. "Choose thy dooooom!!" She said, pointing at him.

"Hehe, that's easy, dare!" He said confidently.

VT laughed manically. "Your dare is to sing the whole 'I feel pretty' song!"

"The wha…?"

"Mizu-?"

"Already on it," she said, grabbing her laptop from a bag she'd brought to the room with her and dragging Kuwabara from his seat, all the while swaying as she brought him outside.

A moment later, a yell of "No way, I ain't singin' that!" and a few smacks came from outside. A grumbling Kuwabara and a still slightly swaying Mizu came in soon after. As Mizu sat down, Kuwabara stood in front of everyone and cleared his throat a few times.

"I feel pretty! Oh so prettyyy!! I feel pretty and witty and gaaaaaaaaay!! And I pity! Any girl who isn't me today," he started. And so it went on through the whole song until the entire gang was laughing. Even Hiei, who had kept to the shadows outside, was laughing a light-hearted chuckle.

"Alright alright, that's enough already!" He screeched. It still took a few minutes for everyone to calm down. A sappy smile on his face, Kuwabara started the next spin. It landed on Suzuka.

"Truth," he said. "The last thing I want is a dare from you."

"Fine! How many women have you actually dated?"

"Uh, well let's see…" He said thoughtfully.

"From what I hear, none," Shishi remarked as he disinterestedly downed a shot.

"For your information, I've dated, uh," he looked at his fingers a minute, thinking. "At least four!"

"Huh, for a minute there I thought Shishi'd be right," Rinku commented quietly.

Silently reminding himself to give Rinku a beating later, Suzuka spun the bottle. This time it landed on Chuu.

"I DARE ALL OF YOUS TO A DRINKING CONTEST!!!!" He said drunkenly.

"I don't think any of us would win," Suzuka said, getting ready to spin the bottle again. It landed on Shishi just as he was getting comfortable on the borrowed sofa.

He sat thoughtfully for a minute, then shrugged. "Dare."

"You are to sit in the lap of one of these nice young ladies in imp form for two rounds," Suzuka said, pausing to let the demon smile fiendishly for a moment. "While that person annoyingly treats you like a puppy."

"A puppy?" He said, raising an eyebrow.

"And I think VT would do the job nicely, wouldn't you agree?" He asked in her direction. She nodded eagerly. A grumbling and disgruntled imp floated cautiously to VT, who proceeded to pluck him out of the air, glomp him, and call him Squishie. "Not exactly what I had in mind, but that works. Don't get up, Shishi, I'll spin for you," he grinned. Shishi merely glared at him as VT began pinching his cheek.

The bottle was spun and landed on Kurama. The surprised redhead sat in silence debating what to do when the gang started up a "Dare" chant.

He sighed. "Alright, dare."

"Bad idea, Kurama." The imp grinned. "I dare you to a drinking contest with…Touya!"

Kurama groaned as Touya smiled.

"Not exactly the rematch you were expecting, is it??" Touya said as the two went over the table and started the match, everyone gathering around to watch.

As VT stood in the back, the swordsman imp placed on top of her beanie, a small pain near her wrist started up. Carefully looking down so as not to draw Shishi's attention, she rolled up her left sleeve and saw a small strange black mark in the shape of an inkblot had formed on her arm. She slowly pulled the sleeve back down and continued to watch the duel, in which Kurama seemed to be holding his own marginally better than Touya. As the small pinching sensation intensified, a voice, small, but powerful, told her to be calm and relax her muscles as much as possible. As soon as she did so, the pain diminished, but she felt somewhat tired.

After thinking over what could have caused the mark, coming up with nothing, and Kurama coming out victorious once Touya couldn't hold down his eighth shot in a row, the group sat down once more.

Yusuke spun the bottle for Kurama, and it landed on Jin.

"Dare!! And ya better give me something fun, Urameshi!" Indicating that Kurama was too intoxicated to think of something.

"Fun, huh? Okay…" Yusuke thought. A bright idea popped into his head. "I dare you to get Hiei to join in on the game and if you do, you give a kiss to a girl of my choosing."

"Are you kidding me? If it's not fightin', the short one's not fer any type a' fun," Jin complained.

Yusuke grinned, a plan on his face. He walked to the door and leaned on frame. In a louder than necessary voice, he said "oh well, I guess I'll just have to dare you to kiss Yuk-OW!" but before he could finish the sentence, Hiei discreetly stomped on Yusuke's toes. Hiei looked quickly around inside, but didn't see a trace of Yukina. He turned to Yusuke and growled at him menacingly.

Jin, unsure of what was going on, simply asked "How's about a round of Truth or Dare" to which Hiei hn'd and sat down on the floor, arms crossed defiantly. A limping, but grinning Yusuke also sat back down as he announced the "lucky girl."

"I pick…VT!" Yusuke said surprisingly.

"Me again? But I already got picked for the imp-man," she said, pointing at Shishi who was still perched on her head.

"You heard the man!" Jin said, extending an arm. She took it to help herself up when Jin unexpectedly dipped her into one arm and kissed her, to which there were fox whistles and boo's to "get a room". But to Jin's surprise, VT placed a hand at the back of his head, putting him a bit on the defensive as she kissed back a bit forcefully. When he pulled away, VT was licking her upper lip and she had an odd glint in her eye. A bit taken aback at this, he placed her upright and flushed red.

"Oh thank God I don't have to endure this anymore!" Shishi said, turning back into his more modest self and grabbing the nearest bottle to take a long swig out of. Touya, still looking a bit pale, came back inside and plopped himself into his seat. At the same time, Mizu, her ears burning red, but hidden by her hair, got up and started pouring herself another shot.

"Jin, spin it already!" Yusuke grinned.

"Alright, take it easy!" He said, flicking his wrist to summon a breeze strong enough to spin the bottle. He then decided he needed a shot himself.

"Hey, it landed on me; I choose dare!" Yusuke said, perhaps a little too enthusiastically.

"Hmm, what do you think, Mizu?" He asked, the normal grin returning to his face.

Mizu downed her shot and thought a moment. "Have him swap clothes with someone in front of everyone. Did he bring anything stronger?" She asked, picking up another bottle.

"Great idea! Yusuke, I dare you to exchange clothes with Kuwabara!" He turned back to Mizu, a little concerned. "You sure you want to be drinkin' that?"

"Is it stronger?" She asked again in an innocent tone, already pouring it.

"Er, well yeah-"and she downed it before he could say anything more. Then he grinned. "You're a real crazy one, Mizu, just like Yusuke!"

"Gee, thanks," she mumbled as he downed his own shot and took his seat again. As she poured another one and watched the two unceremoniously exchange clothes, she saw, though it may not have clicked in her brain, some of Kurama's hairs turn silver, slowly, but surely. He hadn't said anything since he had accepted his dare, and now he was looking perturbed for some reason. She took her shot, and went to take her seat on the floor.

Finally dressed in Kuwabara's clothes, Yusuke sat back down and spun the bottle. It landed on Mizu.

"Truth or dare, Mizu?" Yusuke asked, trying to get Mizu to focus her attention as her eyes wandered around the room.

"Huh? Oh, ummmm, dare," she said.

Yusuke grinned. "I dare you to dance to a song."

" 'Kay," she said, pulling up the laptop again. She looked for a good song and found it: I Don't Feel Like Dancing by Scissor Sisters. At first she started stepping from side to side, but once the words kicked in, she really got into it. She even lipsynched with the chorus as she swirled around and did a little "soft shoe" of her own.

After they stopped laughing and applauding a little, Mizu spun the bottle. It landed on VT.

"Dare," VT said bravely, for who knew what suggestion a drunken Mizu would give.

After several minutes of giggle fits, "okay"s, and "um"s, Mizu finally got to her dare.

"Okay, you...are gunna like...so totally owe me...okay," she whispered to her, then announced as she pointed to the now-turned Yoko Kurama. "I dare you to sit in Yoko's lap for the next three rounds!" Then she started giggling her head off again.

Trying hard to keep a straight face, VT stood up and started sauntering to where the fox demon was sitting when she slowed down a bit as she noticed a very evil glint in his eye. She thought at first that it might not be the greatest dare after all, but her second thoughts were tossed out the window when the drunken Yoko grabbed her wrist and forced her to sit down.

As she started to spin the bottle, she felt a few tugs on her hair as Yoko started making little braids. It landed on Rinku.

"Finally! Dare me already!" He said.

"I dare you to..." she looked at Mizu and grinned. "Give Mizu your hat!!"

"That's it?? What kind of dare is that?" He said, tossing her the hat. She squealed and pulled it over her eyes.

"I'm not done yet!! Mizu, go have fun." Mizu grinned so much she thought she'd burst as she dragged Rinku outside, taking her bag with her.

Hiei sighed. It was time to make himself scarce. As the others were paying attention to the yells Rinku was giving off, he silently left, thankful that he hadn't been chosen to play this stupid game.

Five minutes later, Mizu pushed Rinku back into the room, wearing his hat and looking quite pleased with herself. Rinku's left eye was completely blacked out with a sharpie marker, his nose was just colored red with a red marker, there was a yellow arrow going through the star tatoos on his face, and a big blue heart was drawn on his left cheek.

"Aww, that's it?" VT whined.

"He wouldn't stop moving around," she said, shrugging innocently.

"Can I have my hat back now?" Rinku grumbled. In response, Mizu took on a thinking pose, then abruptly took the hat and shoved it as far over Rinku's head as she could. Then took her seat.

Rinku pulled the hat off his head and put it where it belonged before growling at Mizu. He begrudingly sat down and spun the bottle. It landed on Mizu, and Rinku's mood soon lightened.

"Hmm..." she thought aloud. "Truthses."

"I heard rumors about some dream that freaked you out," he started.

"Where did you hear that?" She said, trying to sound serious.

"Let's just say a little birdie told me," he said slyly, knowing full well he had listened in on one of Botan's conversations with Koenma. "So spill the beans!!"

"Hmm…" said, grabbing her bag again. This time she pulled out a notebook and a pen. 'I know he's still listening,' she thought. She started writing it down, some parts fuzzier than others, and completely leaving out the music that was playing. When she finished, she closed the book and handed it to him. He opened it and started reading it to himself.

While everyone was staring at Rinku intently, Yoko stopped his braiding at an odd sight; VT wasn't wearing her translator. Now while this didn't fully click in his mind, he did know that she had the prettiest hair…and decided to give her a big squeeze. Only he may have squeezed a bit too hard, seeing as she started gasping for air. He released her a little and as he was starting to feel sleepy, rested his head on her back. Soon enough, he was blissfully asleep, and every once in a while, his left ear would twitch.

_Mizu's not the only one who's had too much to drink_, VT thought as Yoko's limp arms sagged down a little uncomfortably and she quickly moved his hand onto her knees.

Then he started quietly talking in sleep. "Will you…bare my children…?"

_Whoa boy, I hope they pass that notebook around faster_, she thought. She suddenly grimaced a little as the pain in her arm came back, this time stronger.

The book finally got to her and she started reading. It was hard to concentrate with the pain in her arm, but she got through it. When she finished, she looked over the edge of the notebook at Mizu. She was staring solemnly at the floor and making little circles in the carpet with her finger, but looked up at VT when she felt VT's eyes upon her. VT knew more of what Mizu was feeling now. She knew why she couldn't tell Hiei about it. She gave her a little nod in understanding, and Mizu gave her a slight smile in return.

When the notebook finally got back around to Mizu, she immediately tore out the page with the writing out and tore it to shreds.

"If any of you repeat what you read to anyone, I'll start kicking asses," she said with a loud "hic" as she stuffed them into her pocket for further destruction later.

"I don't see what the big is fuss about, it was just a dream, right?" Rinku said. In response, Ayeri jumped off of his spot on Mizu's neck, ran up to Rinku, bristled and a foul odor weaved its way into Rinku's clothes. "AWW THAT'S SICK!!!!" He said, pinching his nose and going outside, the ferret running after him. That was enough to lighten everyone's mood.

"Well since you're both well enough to be drinking, I guess that means you'll be up early in the morning to go home," said a voice came from outside the door. It was Genkai.

There were many groans from the peanut gallery.

"What time do you want us up at?" VT asked.

She gave a smirk. "Fast learner." VT beamed. "Be ready at 6:30. If you're not up, I'm sending Botan in to wake you up," she said with finality, putting to rest any arguments the group may have had. "I also expect my furniture to be returned exactly where they were taken from," and with that, she left.

"Guess we should get some sleep then," Yusuke said. Despite the fun they were having, all agreed.

"Could I get a little help here?" VT said, trying to get up from the hold the kitsune had resumed on her waist.

While Mizu and Yusuke helped pry Yoko's grip off, Suzuka and Jin started removing the furniture. VT then decided to take it upon herself to try and lug Yoko back to his room.

"Are you sure you can handle carrying him all that way?" Yusuke asked.

"Unrgh, yosh!!" She affirmed. The other two then turned their attention to the also-asleep Chuu.

"What do we do about him?" Yusuke asked.

"I ain't carryin him!!" Mizu argued.

Rinku came back then, his hat gone. "Just leave him, he'll be fine."

Yusuke nodded and turned to Mizu. "You should get some sleep, we'll take care of this," he said, referring to the mess. She nodded and headed out.

As Mizu drunkenly made her way her to room, she felt prying eyes were watching her, but she didn't care. It may not have been Hiei she told, but just writing it down and having them all read about it was enough to make her stomach do somersaults. She opened the sliding door to her room and closed it behind her. She didn't turn on any lights; she just sat down on the futon in the middle of the floor and waited.

As expected, a few minutes later the door slid open again and Hiei's silhouette appeared in the doorway. He stepped inside only to see Mizu sitting cross-legged, waiting for him.

"You should make this easy on yourself," he said, realizing that his plan to steal the pieces in her sleep wasn't going to work. Not now.

She stood up, if not wobbly, and took the pieces out of her pocket.

"Hiei…please don't do this."

"Why not?" He smiled ironically. "They all know but me."

"That's because I…I-" she stammered, trying to find the right words.

"Because it involves me? All the more reason I need to know."

"No…it's because I'm afraid…"she sank to the floor, trying to stop the tears she knew were coming.

Hiei sighed silently to himself, tried hard not to roll his eyes and got to one knee in front of her. "It's a dream. Nothing real about it to be afraid of."

"No, you don't understand," she said. "I'm afraid of what you'll think of me when you know."

What I think of her? I don't even really know myself, he thought as he looked at Mizu, who was staring at the floor.

"Hey," he said after a while, putting a finger under her chin to make her look at him. "Let me worry about that, got it?" She squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. "Give me the paper," he said, holding out his hand.

"No." Hiei was about to sigh again when "I'll show you."

He sat down and searched her face. Her will seemed unwavering.

"Are you sure?" She nodded. "Close your eyes and try to relax. Think about the dream, and everything that happened." He waited a second, then quickly placed a finger to her forehead and caught her shoulders as she fell instantly asleep. He then laid her back on the bed.

He started to turn to leave when he saw the pieces of paper in her half-open hand. He picked them up and looked at them a moment before summoning a small flame and turning them to ash.

"Get some sleep, Mizu. You're going to need it."

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"Here we are," VT said. It took her some time to drag Yoko's body to his room, but at least it hadn't been too far of a trip. Seeing as her hands were full, she practically had to kick the sliding door open. VT peered into the dark room until her eyes got accustomed to the light, readjusted Yoko's weight on her back, and entered.

Kurama's guest room in Genkai's temple was impeccable, as expected. Upon seeing the bookcase stuffed full of books, VT almost lost her grip so strong was her urge to see what he had. But she kept focus on putting the fox to bed; she'd raid his collection afterwards.

An unexpected jolt shot through her knee, the same as the pain that had gone through her arm, and she tumbled to the floor, the sleeping kitsune landing on top of her.

"Ow…" VT said as she tried to move her arms to push herself up, but found herself pinned under Yoko's weight. _Crap!!!!_ _Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap!!!_ She thought, flailing. To make matters worse, Yoko decided to wrap his arms around her like a pillow and nuzzle her back.

"Fuzzy persslip," he said, sleep talking.

"Well, shit. I don't think even I can wiggle out of this one," VT sighed, resigned to her fate of a bad night's sleep.

Eyeing the bookcase that might keep her mind occupied, she looked around for something nearby to use as a tool for bringing the books closer, but seeing as this was Kurama's room, there wasn't anything on the floor to use. She sighed. This was going to be a long night.

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Please review, even if you've already done it. Tell me if I suck, for all I care, just review!!! AYERI WILL NIBBLE YOU TO DEATH BECAUSE YOU ARE MAKING HIM SAD!!!!!!

Also, this chapter is all in good fun, I don't mean to scare anyone away with hints of god-awful future romance.


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